Aces sure of ruling inaugural IPTL tiff

MANILA, Philippines – The International Premier Tennis League matches may not be over, but the Micromax Indian Aces are clearly the champs of the maiden salvo of the tournament.

The Aces currently have 38 points, putting them on top of the team rankings regardless of the outcome of Saturday night’s matches in Dubai.

Hosting team Musafir.com UAE Royals were unable to secure the chance to tie the Aces on top of the scoreboard after being upset by the DBS Singapore Slammers on Friday, 23-21.

With the loss, the Royals now have 33 points, and even if they win against the Aces on Saturday, the win would give them a maximum of four points to 37, still short of the 38 points of the Aces.

The Manila Mavericks, with total points of 31, could still tie the Royals for second place if the Carlos Moya-led squad wins over the DBS Singapore Slammers and the Royals drop the match against the Aces.

On Friday, the Aces showed their winning form, logging a comfortable 28-23 win over the Mavericks.

Aces' Fabrice Santoro gave Mark Philippoussis the latter's first defeat in the tournament, 6-3, in the first set.

Gael Monfils prevailed over another Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, widening the lead for the Aces, 6-2.

The third set was won by the Aces' mixed doubles partnership of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, 6-4, against Daniel Nestor and Kirsten Flipkens.

Ana Ivanovic continued the winning streak for the Aces, trumping Flipkens, 6-3.

The fifth set saw Nestor and Tsonga giving the Mavericks the chance to take the match, but ultimately failed against Bopanna and Monfils, 11-4.

Meanwhile, the Slammers put on a fine show to dash the hopes of the Royals to tie the Aces to first place, 23-21.

The Slammers took three of the five sets of the match.

Daniel Hantuchova opened the Slammers campaign with a crushing 6-1 victory over Caroline Wozniacki.

Goran Ivansevic of the Royals however gave his team the second set, 6-1, against Patrick Rafter.

Nenad Zimonjic and Kristina Mladenovic gave the lead to the Royals with a 6-4 win over Hantuchova and Bruno Soares.

The men's doubles tandem of Lleyton Hewiit and Nick Kyrgios finally clicked to win the fourth set for the Slammers, 6-3, against Zimonjic and Marin Cilic.

ATP World No. 7 Thomas Berdych sealed the win for the Slammers, outlasting World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final set, 6-5.