The UAE Royals has kicked-off their campaign in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) with a 26-20 win over the Singapore Slammers.
The unique format consisted of five different sets consisting of five separate matches (three singles and two doubles matches). The UAE Royals won four out of the five sets to grab the comprehensive win.
The match got underway with Ana Ivanovic easing herself to a 6-3 win over Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic to hand the Royals an early advantage. Despite taking the win, the Serbian will be disappointed with her first serve performance. Ivanovic only managed to get 48% of her first serves in.
The lead gained by Ivanovic was then obliterated in the second set following an outstanding performance by Singapore Slammers player Nick Kyrgios. The controversy-stricken player defeated world No.6 Tomas Berdych 6-2 in just 23 minutes. Throughout the hugely impressive performance by the Australian, Kyrgios produced 15 winners and just 2 unforced errors.
Despite the triumphant performance from Kyrgios, it wasn’t enough to spoil the momentum of the UAE Royals. Berdych managed to redeem himself in the following set during the men’s doubles set. Partnering Daniel Nestor, the pair edged out world No.1 doubles player Marcelo Melo and Dustin Brown 6-5, winning the tiebreaker 7-5.
The UAE Royals continued their dominance in the mixed doubles during the fourth set. Nestor paired up with two-time mixed doubles Grand Slam champion Kristina Mladenovic. The duo faced Melo and Karolina Pliskova, easing their way to a 6-3 win.
Going into the final set, the UAE Royals was leading 20-17. Rounding off the match was a clash between 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and 1998 French Open champion Carlos Moya. During their pro career they have played each other four times between 1996-2001, with Moya leading the head-to-head 3-1. Despite trailing the head-to-head, Ivanisevic took the set 6-3 to seal his team’s win.
Following Ivanisevic’s win over Moya, he paid tribute to his team and their performance.
“I want to congratulate my team, they were unbelievable today”. The Croat said.
“I was really surprised with myself, I played really well”. He said about his performance against Moya.
The next match for the UAE Royals will be against Legendari Japan Warriors tomorrow. The Warriors team include Kei Nishikori, Maria Sharapova, Leander Paes, Marat Safin, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Kurumi Nara.
