KOBE,JAPAN : Defending champions Indian Aces kick started their campaign with a 25-24 win against first-timers Japan Warriors in their opening match of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) season two that began in Kobe on Wednesday.
In the first match Singapore Slammers sailed past UAE Royals 26-20 at the Kobe World Hall. Debutants Japan Warriors ended up on the losing side amidst great support for the home team .The players were greeted by a packed house that had families, kids and tennis aficionados rooting for their favorite stars. Indian tennis ace Leander Paes, who is part of the Japan Warriors, did not get to play on Wednesday.
Warriors started well with the mixed doubles pairing of Maria Sharapova and Pierre-Hugues Herbert surprising the seasoned Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna in the opening set, winning it 6-5.
The next set was the women’s singles between Sharapova and Samantha Stosur and the Russian trumped the Australian 6-5, giving Warriors a 12-10 advantage.
Now it was the turn of stars of yesteryear, Marat Safin and Fabrice Santoro, who took on each other in legend’s singles. Spaniard Santoro prevailed over the Russian 6-2 to take the visitors past Warriors in the overall scoreline. The men’s doubles also went to the Indian team as Bopanna and Gael Monfils defeated local Kei Nishikori and doubles specialist Herbert 6-5.
Though Nishikori managed to get the better of Monfils in the men’s singles, it was not enough for a win with loud cheers as the Royals won 26-20.
In the first match of the day, Ana Ivanovic won the women’s singles 6-3 over Belinda Bencic to give UAE Royals a winning start.
Next up in the men’s singles, the power-packed shot making of Tomas Berdych and Nick Kyrgios was a hit with the crowd. Kyrgios won convincingly (6-2) for Singapore Slammers, the only set his team won during the evening.
In the men’s doubles, Berdych and Daniel Nestor showcased some brilliant shot-making against the equally clever play of Marcelo Melo and Dustin Brown, though the Royals emerged victorious 6-5.
The combine of Kristina Mladenovic and Nestor and Goran Ivanisevic showed their class by taking the last two sets — mixed doubles and men’s legends singles respectively — with relative ease, giving the Royals a winning start in season 2 of the IPTL.
His side lost the match on Wednesday but Kyrgios was upbeat to be in the second season of the IPTL.