Defending champions Indian Aces launched their home leg with a bang, beating the Philippines Mavericks 30-12 in the second edition of the International Premier Tennis League at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.
With tennis great Rafael Nadal on board, Aces came with all cylinders firing to win the first three games with ease.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna started the proceedings, getting the better of Treat Huey and Ajla Tomljanovic in the mixed doubles 6-2.
In the women’s singles, world no. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska proved too hot for Jarmila Gajdosova, taking just 17 minutes before coach Fabrice Santoro extended the lead to 21-4 in the men’s legends singles. Santoro defeated Mark Philippoussis 6-1.
The men’s doubles game saw a duel between Aces duo Nadal-Bopanna and Mavericks’ Huey and Eduard Roger-Vasselin before the home team clinched it 6-4 to keep their winning run intact.
The fifth set saw Nadal race to a 4-0 in no time but Roger-Vasselin pulled up his socks to level at 4-4. Nadal then had to dig deep to prevail 6-4.
Earlier, debutants Japan Warriors tasted success when they came from behind to beat UAE Royals 24-21 in the day’s opening rubber. Ana Ivanovic, turning out for the Royals this time, gave her team a winning start by taking the opening set 6-2 against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in 24 minutes.
The buzz about the event that was evident last year was missing this time as the stadium was sparsely filled on the day, though India Test captain Virat Kohli was in attendance to cheer his tennis stars.
Goran Ivanisevic then won the men’s legends singles for UAE Royals as he eased past Thomas Enqvist 6-4 in 24 minutes.
“I don’t consider playing IPTL matches as an exhibition. It is serious tennis for me and I always go on court prepared. I love playing in India the crowd is loud here. But this time I am seeing the stands are empty but I hope it will be filled in coming days. Definitely for the Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal match,” Ivanisevic said.
The match was going as per Royals’ plan but little did they knew that Leander Paes and Pierre-Hugues Herbert would change the course of the encounter.
Paes-Herbert were excellent on serve and took just 22 minutes to outclass Tomas Berdych and Daniel Nestor 6-3.
Japan then regrouped and won the final two matches to clinch the rubber. Herbert, the reigning US Open doubles champion, again took the court and extended his winning run, beating Berdych 6-4 in more than half an hour, the longest game of the match.
In the last game, Herbert partened Lucic-Baroni in the mixed doubles against Kristina Mladenovic and Nestor. The UAE duo won 6-2.
