Murray, Kyrgios Lead Slammers Past Aces
The OUE Singapore Slammers handed the Micromax Indian Aces its second loss of the season on Wednesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, defeating the Aces 27-16 to improve the Slammers record to 6-3 in International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) play.
The Slammers got a gift to start things off, as Fabrice Santoro had to withdraw from his Men’s Legends singles set against Carlos Moya due to injury, giving the Slammers the early 6-0 advantage.
Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska inched the Aces closer with a 6-3 win over Swiss Belinda Bencic in the women’s singles set.
The turning point of the match came in the mixed-doubles set, as Karolina Pliskova & Dustin Brown edged Sania Mirza & Ivan Dodig in a tie-breaker to keep the Slammers ahead.
Andy Murray & Marcelo Melo put the Aces away in the next set. The Scottish-Brazilian duo beat Bernard Tomic & Dodig 6-4 in the men’s doubles set, winning 16 of 24 points at the net to give the Slammers an insurmountable lead.
To finish things off, Nick Kyrgios beat his compatriot Bernard Tomic 6-1 in the Men’s Singles set.
The win gives the Slammers a comfortable spot in second place in the standings. The top two teams will play in the finals at the end of the season.
“Andy played great the last couple of days,” said Kyrgios. “We knew that he was going to be the main guy for our team here coming into Dubai. I think it’s not so much catching the Aces any more, it’s more solidifying our position into a strong second place to get to the finals.”
The OBI UAE Royals beat the Legendari Japan Warriors 26-22 in Wednesday’s second match.
