THE Micromax Indian Aces played a brilliant all-around game to dominate the DBS Singapore Slammers, 26-16, for the inaugural win in the 2014 Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League presented by Qatar Airways on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Flanked by a topnotch cast, led by Gael Monfils, Rohan Bopanna, Ana Ivanovic, Sania Mirza and playing-coach Fabrice Santoro, the Aces bested the Slammers of Tomas Berdych, Lleyton Hewitt, Bruno Soares, Nick Kyrgios, Daniela Hachutova and Australian legend Patrick Rafter.
In the first set, the mixed-doubles team of Mirza and Bopanna booked a comfortable 6-4 win over Hanchutova and Soares to break the ice.
But Rafter turned up the heat in the second set, storming back from 1-3 down against Santoro to knot their Legends singles at 5-all and force a five-minute shootout.
During the five-minute overtime, Santoro held serve in the last three minutes to emerge victorious in the tiebreak shootout for the 8-4 win—plus the 12-9 lead.
In the men’s doubles, Kyrgios and Berdych upset the Slammers following a commanding 6-2 win over Bopanna and Gael Monfils for a slim 15-14 lead.
The Aces then responded in the fourth set behind Ivanovic’s destruction of Hanchutova, 6-0, which was followed by Monfils’s clinical work of Hewitt in the fifth set, 6-1.
During the fifth game of the final set, Monfils broke the serious nature of the contest after becoming the first casualty of the innovative 20-second shot clock. The Frenchman, currently ranked No. 18 in the world, hilariously argued with the umpire and wound up winning the game.
The Aces will face the hometown team Manila Mavericks, who played the United Arab Emirates Royals late Friday, in Saturday’s main matchup at 7:30 p.m.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes