Dubai: The Indian Aces continued their relentless march towards the inaugural International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) title with a comprehensive 28-23 win over the Manila Mavericks on the second day of the final event at the Hamdan Sports Complex here on Friday.
After beating bottom-placed Singapore Slammers 28-24 on Dubai’s opening night on Thursday, the Aces were simply too strong for the Mavericks as they won four of the five sets. They next face a mouth-watering clash against hosts the UAE Royals, which will decide the fate of the championship, late on Saturday.
After a 15-minute delay, play finally began with a modest crowd watching India’s Fabrice Santoro taking on Mark Philippoussis in the legends singles. After going neck-and-neck to 3-3, Santoro earned the first break to go 4-3 ahead and held for 5-3 before relying on the double-scoring ‘happiness power point’ to win the set 6-3.
“The focus was really to try and keep the returns inside. At times I was like a goalkeeper going for the ball in all directions, but it all helped in the end,” Santoro said afterwards.
The Aces’ Gael Monfils started badly in the men’s singles as he was broken by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first match. But he broke back immediately and Monfils then surged into a 4-2 lead, held for 5-2 and then recorded a third break to seal the set and increase the Aces’ cushion to 12-5.
“The scoreline may not indicate it, but that was a pretty intense tennis match out there,” Monfils said. “We are aware of our strengths as a team and we want to play to these strengths.”
Next up was the mixed doubles and the popular Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna broke Daniel Nestor and Kirsten Flipkens in the fifth game before holding to go ahead 4-2.
The Aces duo continued to add rhythm to their game, securing another break in the seventh to make it 5-2, only for Mirza to be broken. But Bopanna kept his cool and served out the set 6-4 to give the Aces an 18-9 lead.
Former world number one Ana Ivanovic then wrapped things up as she fought back from an early break against Flipkens to take the set 6-3 and hand the Aces a 24-12 lead.
In the closing men’s doubles match, the Mavericks finally found their winning touch as they earned their first win with a 6-3 victory over Bopanna and Monfils, forcing the mandatory seven-minute shoot-out to extend their margin to 11-4.
