The local fans in Manila were thrilled once again as their outfit claimed its third win from three clashes in the Philippine leg of the Coca-Cola IPTL against top side, the Micromax Indian Aces, by an extremely close 25-24.
Big serving Mark Philippoussis got the Mavericks off to the perfect start once again with a 6-4 win over Fabrice Santoro in a contrasting clash of styles. Every game was important in this tight affaire, and Ivan Dodig and Rafa Nadal levelled things up with a 6-4 win against French duo, Richard Gasquet and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Next it was the mixed doubles and, once again, the crowd cranked up the noise levels a couple of notches when Treat Huey took to the court alongside Serena Williams. The filipino player though was unable to deliver alongside the women’s world number one and they fell to the experienced Indian couple of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna by 6-3.
With the tide back in the favour of the Aces, Serena Williams did her job in the women’s singles and defeated Sam Stoser comfortably 6-3. It all came down to Milos Raonic and Rafael Nadal in the fifth and final set. A shoot-out would decide not only the winner of the set but of the entire tie, and in the end the big serving Canadian wrapped it up 6-5, giving the Mavericks a perfect 3-0 win-loss record in Manila.
This is what Raonic and Nadal had to say after an extremely exciting day of tennis:
Milos Raonic: “I just played my game, stuck to the plan. With Rafa out there, I knew I had to keep the points short, not let him control the game, and that’s just what I did. It is exciting to play the way we did all three nights in front of home fans, winning all our matches here. We had a great captain in Mark, picking his player rotation the way he did, starting out in exceptional fashion winning the opening set each time, which was very motivating. It’s a great format, very audience-friendly and tv-friendly; we have a great atmosphere in the team, and are looking forward to taking this winning streak into the next leg.”
Rafael Nadal: “I loved the energy out there today. I had my chances, it could have gone either ways, but it was a great match. It was a great afternoon. Great tennis. I had the final point for the Aces but I came back 2 breaks down during the set. And he played great and I missed him by two forehands at the end. But it was great fantastic energy out there and I enjoyed the crowd. I enjoyed playing the doubles too, Ivan is a fantastic doubles player and I play singles well, so it was a good combination.”
The IPTL now heads to New Delhi from the 10th to the 12th of December.
