UAE- IPTL: Indian Aces shift into top gear

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) UAE Royals edge Mavericks; Tsonga outlasts Djokovic Sania Mirza serves during a doubles match against Daniel Nestor and Kirsten Flipkens during an IPTL match at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai. — KT Photo by Shihab

Dubai — Pace setters Micromax Indian Aces boosted their chances for the top prize with a 28-23 victory over Manila Mavericks in Match 1 on Day 2 of the three-day fourth and final leg of International Premier Tennis League (IPTL).

The large turnout of the inaugural four-team championship at the Hamdan Sports Complex on Friday were treated to exciting full steam tennis all in one go during the one-set five-fixture per-match format. The final aggregate score at the end of every match of fives sets each plus the grand shootout is from the total number of games won overall.

Veteran Fabric Santoro of Micromax is no easy hurdle to cross even if he is handicapped with a strained left thigh and a bandage on it like he was half way through the legends tie against Mark Philippoussis. Santoro clinched it 6-3 to give the Indian Aces the launch thrust.

Santoro said: “Returning big booming serves like the ones Mark has in his armoury is a difficult task but I was able to keep the ball low and cut down on the pace. The flexibility part in me well must have come from my father who was a good goalkeeper.”

Santoro handled situations almost beyond his control with amazing stop-chop slices on the backhand to subdue Philippoussis of the Manila Mavericks. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Mavericks) found Micromax’s Gael Monfils in splendid touch though his serve and volley tactics did pay off at times before bowing out 2-6 in set 2.

Monfils said: “The game was close but Jo made some errors at the net where I tried to keep the returns as low as possible. I have been having a great time with the IPTL the Delhi stop being really big time both on and off court.”

Set 3 was all about the Micromax Indian Aces sinking the powerful Daniel Nestor and Kirsten Flipkens armada. Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza played beautifully with great interception work at midcourt and in front. The Indian reps won 6-2 to swell their aggregate advantage.

“We were slightly slow in moving into our regular gear. We know each other so well on court with nearly 15 years of experience and this gave us the edge against the strong Kirsten-Nestor combination” said Saina and Bopanna.

Ana Ivanovic (Indian Aces) is able to infuse so much of spin even when pressed hard to take volleys at ankle height. The one she deceived Kirsten Flipkens (Manila Mavericks) when the issue was tied 3-3 in set 4 was a beauty.

Kirsten on the hand was able to change the pace in split seconds — first a round of continuous slices that literally stopped the ball and made it a lot slower than one can imagine due to the softer top.

When Ana managed to send crisper returns as a response to Kirsten slowing down the tempo the bespectacled Belgian switched the tempo to a hard running fast style that caught Ana on the wrong foot on the baseline three times.

In the end Ana registered a deserving 6-3 romp mainly by being more patient. Nestor and Tsonga won consolation points for the Manila outfit with an authoritative 6-3 cruise past Bopanna and Monfils though the experienced Micromax pairing tried coming back in the seventh and eight games by breaking and holding serve.

The power points challenge shootout — a maximum seven-minute extension of all the last ties in the ITPL series — gives a chance for the trailing side to make up on some points. The Shootout for final extra points saw Nestor and Tsonga winning 11-4 for the Mavericks.

In the late night second match Thursday night Musafir.com UAE Royals recorded a thrilling 26-25 victory over Manila Mavericks. Caroline Wozniacki met Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens in the opening set. The World No. 8 Dane ruled from the beginning and gave the UAE Royals a solid start with a 6-2 win.

In the Legend’s set Goran Ivanisevic played against an in-form Mark Philippoussis in a heady set up that witnessed the Mavericks taking their first Set in the course of a shootout a post match analysis read. With his exquisite combination of shots World No. 12 Jo-Wilfred Tsonga played remarkably against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

The set went into a shootout which Tsonga won for the Mavericks. Playing against Nenad Zimonjic and Kristina Mladenovic the experienced Mixed Doubles pair of Flipkens and Nestor won their set 6-4 with ease taking the match to an interesting 20-20 overall situation. The Doubles Set that went into a shootout Zimonjic and Marin Cilic won against the more seasoned pairing of Tsonga and Nestor.