On Day 1 at Singapore, the first match involved Indian Aces and UAE Royals. Indian Aces won all their sets, beginning with women’s singles between Ana Ivanovic and Kristina Mladenovic. It was an easy 6-2 victory for Ivanovic. In the mixed doubles set, however, Sania Mirza/Rohan Bopanna needed a shoot-out before winning at 6-5. In men’s singles, Monfils thrashed Cilic 6-1 and in men’s legends singles; Aces’ Santoro first played Ivanisevic, who left mid-set due to injury but the Croat’s replacement, Zimonjic also couldn’t hold against Santoro, who won at 6-2. The last set was men’s doubles, where Bopanna/Monfils defeated Cilic and Zimonjic 6-1. In the second match, DBS Singapore Slammers played against Manila Mavericks. Except Serena Williams’s 6-5 shoot-out victory over Kirsten Flipkens, the Slammers lost all their sets. In men’s legend set, Andre Agassi lost 3-6 against Mark Philippoussis; Hewitt/Berdych lost 4-6 against Treat Huey/Tsonga; Berdych lost 5-6 to Tsonga and Kyrgios/Serena lost the mixed doubles 3-6 to Nestor/Flipkens. In the end, Mavericks defeated Slammers 29-21.
In Wednesday’s first match, UAE Royals beat Manila Mavericks 26-21 beginning with men’s legend’s singles in which Mavericks’ Mark Philippoussis edged out Goran Ivanisevic in a shootout. Mavericks’ only other victory was in men’s doubles, where Tsonga/Huey defeated Cilic/Zimonjic 6-3. Royals won the men’s singles with Cilic defeating Tsonga 6-4; mixed doubles in which Zimonjic/ Mladenovic beat Nestor/Flipkens 6-1 and women’s singles, where Mladenovic beat Flipkens 6-4. In the second match later, Singapore Slammers scored their first IPTL triumph by beating the hitherto unbeaten Indian Aces 24-23. World no.1 Serena Williams gave the hosts a great start with a 6-4 victory after being down 1-3. The crowds cheered lustily as Serena fought back to win against the world no.5. In the next set, Slammers’ mixed pair of Williams/Bruno Soares lost 3-6 against Aces’ Mirza/Bopanna and in the Men’s legends singles, Andre Agassi lost 2-6 against Fabrice Santoro. As the Slammers trailed 11-16, Czech icon Tomas Berdych changed the complex of the match. He beat Gael Monfils 6-2 in men’s singles and when Lleyton Hewitt and Nick Kyrgios won the shoot-out 6-5 against Monfils/Rohan Bopanna, the contest ended 23-23. Berdych then came out for a 7-minute super shoot-out against Gael Monfils and led the Slammers to their maiden victory.
In the first match on December 4, Indian Aces lost again, when Manila Mavericks beat them 25-20. Beginning with men’s legends set, in which Slammers’ Philippoussis won against Cedic Pioline 6-4; Indian Aces also lost mixed doubles and men’s doubles sets with an identical 6-2 margin. Though Ana Ivanovic won women’s singles 6-2 against Flipkens, Monfils shoot out win against Tsonga was not enough to prevent their defeat by Mavericks. In the second match, Singapore Slammers defeated UAE Royals with great performances from Serena Williams and Tomas Berdych. The two players won all the matches in which they featured and though the Slammers lost mens’ doubles and men’s legends sets, they could still eke out a 27-25 victory over UAE Royals.
The second leg showed the fight-back from Singapore Slammers and though Indian Aces are still the league leaders, they are not invincible. When Federer and Djokovic join at Delhi and Dubai, it could be a different ball game.