Mavericks down Aces, move to 2nd in IPTL

MANILA, Philippines - Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fil-Am Treat Huey nailed their fifth straight victory in men’s doubles as the Manila Mavericks rebounded with a 25-20 victory over the pacesetting Micromax Indian Aces at the close of the Singapore leg of the International Premier Tennis League last night.

Tsonga and Huey toppled the Rohan Bopanna-Gael Monfils pair, 6-2, in a big follow-up to Daniel Nestor and Kirsten Flipkens’ similar 6-2 win over Bopanna and Sania Mirza in the mixed doubles category.

Mark Philippousis of the Mavericks earlier flashed top form to defeat Cedric Pioline in the first set, 6-4, but Ana Ivanovic of the Aces struck back with a 6-2 romp over Flipkens.

Although Tsonga dropped a close 5-6 setback to Monfils in the final set, the Mavericks escaped going through a shootout as they pooled a 25 against the Aces’ 20.

With the victory, the Manila Mavericks moved to second with 17 points, behind the Aces’ 20 in the team rankings.

The standing of teams heading to the India leg of the tournament will be determined by the outcome of the second match of the day between Musafir.com UAE Royals and the Singapore Slammers.

The tournament, which kicked off with the successful Manila leg last week, will have a one-day break before matches resume again in India tomorrow where Roger Federer wlll suit up for India.