The Indian Aces made it two wins out of two as they came out on top against the Singapore Slammers after a thrilling 26-25 victory.
The first contest started with some Ledgends singles as Carlos Moya represented the Slammers as he took on the Aces’ Thomas Enqvist. One break was enough for the Spaniard as he took the first set for the Slammers 6-4. The second set saw Feliciano Lopez for the Indian Aces face Marcos Baghdatis for the Singapore Slammers in Men’s singles. Again it was a tightly fought contest, however this time it was the Aces who gained the upper hand as Lopez took the second set for the Aces 6-4. The Japanese crowd was entertained by some Men’s doubles action in the third set, which saw Nick Kyrgios and Marcelo Melo hit 62% of first serves en route to grabbing the third set 6-4 for the Singapore Slammers.
In this tightly contested match, the Aces once agin regained momentum as the experienced team of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna took the fourth set 6-4 against Marcelo Melo and Kiki Bertens. The match was now level at 20-20 and was proving to be the best contest so far of the IPTL. Both teams had guarantees themselves a bonus point at this stage and the last set was about winning the contest for their team. Kiki Bertens, representing the Singapore Slammers took on Kirsten Flipkens, representing the Indian Aces. Bertens had the momentum as she was serving to win the contest for the Slammers at 5-3. However Flipkens fought back to force a dramatic shoot out, which Flipkens won in bizarre fashion to grab the match for the Indian Aces. The Indian Aces now top the standings with maximum points, while the Slammers pick up their first point of the campaign. Here is how the Mach ended:
E a partida terminou com a Bertens esquecendo da regra do toss hahahahaha pic.twitter.com/iXTy8cikyg
— Aliny Calejon (@alcalejon) December 3, 2016
The second match of the day saw the Japan Warriors edge out the UAE Royals 23-20 to pick up their first win of the campaign. The first set saw the Warriors get off to a cracking start after Jelena Jankovic thrashed Martina Hingis 6-1. However the Royals struck back and took the next two sets 6-4. The mixed doubles pairing of Martina Hingis and Daniel Nestor defeated Jelena Jankovic and Jean-Julien Rojer in set two. Goran Ivanisevic defeated Marat Safin in set three, to reduce the deficit to one game.
The fourth set was where the UAE Royals started to take control of tie as Daniel Nestor and Pablo Cuevas broke three times as they took the set against the Warriors’ Kei Nishikori and Fernando Verdasco 6-3. The Royals led 19-17 going into the final set between Kei Nishikori and Tomas Berdych. Nishikori was a man possessed and hit spectacular ground strokes and returns to take the set 61 and seal the match for the Japan Warriors.
After today’s results here are the standings after two matches:
- 1. Indian Aces – 6 points
- 2. UAE Royals – 4 points
- 3. Japan Warriors – 3 points
- 4. Singapore Slammers – 1 point
Tomorrow will be the final day of the Japn leg of the tour, where the Indian Aces will play the UAE Royals and the Japan Warriors will play the Singapore Slammers
