IPTL: It's Indian Aces vs Singapore Slammers
In the last round of matches played on Saturday, the in a mismatch they dominated from the start to finish to seal it at 30-20.
Hyderabad: The Singapore Slammers sliced Samurai to size to set up International Premier Tennis League’s title clash with the favoured Indian Aces on Sunday evening.
In the last round of matches played on Saturday, the in a mismatch they dominated from the start to finish to seal it at 30-20. A little later, the Aces lost 20-24 to UAE Royals in an inconsequential tie.
With improved crowd attendance, thanks to the weekend, it was a Saturday bang at the Gachibowli Stadium with the crowd lapping up every bit of the action in the middle.
The Royals began well via Thomas Johansson who mauled Mark Philippoussis 6-2 in the legends singles but an erratic Ana Ivanovic, who often crashed the ball into the Qatar Airways panel at the base of the net, went down to Kirsten Flipkens 3-6. However, the Serbian made amends in the mixed doubles to team up with Canadian Daniel Nestor to lay local favourites Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna low with a 6-3 verdict. Bopanna and Ivan Dodig then beat Pablo Cuevas and Nestor 6-3 in the men’s doubles to get the Aces within a game at 17-18 but Thomas Berdych blasted Dodig 6-3 to seal the Royal stamp.
Earlier, it was smooth sailing for the Slammers who swept all the matches. Carlos Moya got them off to a rocking start with a 6-4 win over Marat Safin in the legends singles that lasted 29 minutes. Kiki Bertens then won the women’s singles as she handled both Jelena Jankovic and later her substitute Kurumi Nara with consummate ease as she coasted to a 6-3 win in 27 minutes. At 12-7 after two matches, the Slammers were threatening to run away with the tie.
Jelena Jankovic and Jean-Julian Rojer then tried their best to pull back things and dragged themselves up to 5-5 in the mixed doubles but found an agile Marcelo Melo too quick at the net to their comfort in the ensuing tie-breaker. The Brazilian bombarded the rival court with timely interventions even as Bertens used the lobs to good effect as the pair scored points at will to take the shootout 7-1.
Some homegrown flavour was on show next with Chennai’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran, ranked 286 in world singles, teaming up with Rojer to face Nick Kyrgios and Melo in the men’s doubles but it did not count for much as the Slammers won 6-3 to open up a gigantic 24-15 lead in the tie. Prajnesh then battled with Marcos Bhagdatis to take the match into a tie-breaker which he lost 4-7 to draw the curtains on his team’s campaign.