JOIN USAces, Slammers notch wins
Indian Aces and Singapore Slammers emerged winners on the second day of India leg of International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) at Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium on Friday.
Indian Aces beat Japan Warriors 26-21 while Slammers won all their matches to get the better of Philippine Mavericks 30-22.
In the second match of the day, the sight of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna, on the opposite side of the net cord, set for an enticing contest. But Paes, all class, once again shone with Pierre-Hugues Herbert to take away the set for his team 6-5. They claimed the shootout 7-6.
Aces, though continued to impress with their dominating show. Sania Mirza and Bopanna gave Aces an ideal start with a 6-4 hammering of Herbert and Mirjana Lucic Baroni. In women’s singles Agnieszka Radwanska brushed Lucic-Baroni 6-2 while Farbrice Santoro outplayed Marat Safin 6-2.
Herbert, replacing Philipp Kohlschreiber in men’s singles, however, ended the Warriors run on a high by beating Ivan Dodig 6-3.
Earlier, Carlos Moya gave Slammers a winning start after getting the better of Mark Philippoussis 6-4. The mixed doubles pairing of Karolina Pliskova and Dustin Brown had to rally to level 5-5 against Jarmila Gajdosova and Treat Huey. The Slammers pair, who hit five aces, finally sealed the issue 6-5 in the shoot-out. Rising star Belinda Bencic delivered yet another win for the Slammers against Ajla Tomljanovic. In the shortest set of the evening, lasing 25 minutes, she won it 6-3.
In the men’s doubles, Nick Kyrgios and Marcelo Melo edged past Huey and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-5. It was closely fought contest with both the pair matching each other to spill the set into another shoot-out.
Kyrgios and Roger-Vasselin returned to battle in the men’s singles in an inconsequential rubber. The Australian, who fired 10 aces in the set, was not at his best but won the shoot-out 7-2 to take the set 6-5 for Slammers.