Aces Stay Perfect in IPTL With Win Over Royals
The Micromax Indian Aces remained alone atop the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) standings, defeating the OBI UAE Royals 30-18 on Monday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila to improve to 3-0 in the IPTL.
The Aces won all five of the sets played on Monday, and it was Rohan Bopanna & Sania Mirza who got things started with a 6-4 win in Mixed Doubles over Daniel Nestor & Kristina Mladenovic.
The lead was padded even more thanks to the Women’s Singles and Men’s Legend Singles sets. Samantha Stosur knocked off Mladenovic 6-3 in women’s singles and Fabrice Santoro beat Goran Ivanisevic 6-3 to give the Aces a commanding 18-10 advantage with two sets left to be played.
Spaniard Rafael Nadal would play in both of the final two sets, much to the delight of the Philippine crowd. He first paired with Ivan Dodig to defeat Tomas Berdych & Nestor 6-3 in the Men’s Doubles match, and then took on Berdych in the men’s singles contest.
It would turn out to be the best set of the match as the two would play into a tiebreaker, with Nadal eventually outlasting Berdych 7-3 in the breaker to make it five for five for the Aces.
“I’m really excited to be playing here today,” said Nadal, who missed out on the event last year after undergoing appendicitis. “It’s a great format, it’s superbly organized. All the players love it and it’s great for the sport of tennis to be able to go to new markets. It’s my first time here in Manila, and the crowd has been fantastic.”
Sitting right behind the Aces in the standings are the Philippine Mavericks, who improved to 3-1 on Monday with a 25-21 victory over the Legendari Japan Warriors.
American Serena Williams played a vital role in the Mavericks victory, first pairing with Milos Raonic to beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-4 in the mixed doubles contest, and then beating Lucic-Baroni 6-3 in the Women’s Singles set.
The loss drops the Warriors to 0-5 this year.
