Rafael Nadal inspired Indian Aces enjoyed a memorable outing against returning Roger Federer's UAE Royals in the second edition of International Premier Tennis league.
The Spaniard however, had the last laugh as he won both his doubles as well as the most anticipated singles clash against Federer to take Aces to a staggering 30-19 victory at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
Sania Mirza-Rohan Bopanna gave Indian Aces the perfect start in the crucial tie against UAE Royals.
The Indian duo stormed through the opening exchanges to break Daniel Nestor-Kristina Mladenovic in their first two service games.
In the very first game the Canada-French player took a 40-0 lead, but the Indian pair showed great resilience to come from behind to win it.
They broke again in the third game, when Bopanna produced a powerful forehand winner to make it 3-0.
But, in the subsequent game, Nestor-Mladenovic called for a power point - which will double the points — when they were trailing 30-40. They made full use of it to win the point and break Mirza's serve as well to make it 3-1.
After both the team managed to hold their serve, in the eight game, during the deciding point Mladenovic's shot was called out and Aces were awarded the game, but the away team challenged the call.
Immediately after, Mirza surprisingly fell down on her knees and kissed the court on the area she taught the ball had landed in the hope of getting the review in her favour and she did get it as the ball had indeed went over the line.
Then in the 10th game, the Indian duo came from 15-40 down to win the game in the deuce to give the home team a head start in the match.
Agnieszka Radwanska had another comfortable outing as she eased past Mladenovic to win the set 6-1. The Pole broke the French player in the first game and went 2-0 up in the next one.
Mladenovic managed to make it 2-1 by holding on to her serve in the subsequent game. But after which Radwanska won four straight games to win the set. Next in the legend's singles Fabrice Santoro overcame a massive deficit to beat Goran Ivanisevic 6-5 via shoot-out.
Ivanisevic broke Santoro early on and then went on to mount a 5-2 lead. But, the Frenchman won the next three games and broke Ivanisevic in the process to make it 5-5. In a neck to neck shoot-out, Santoro prevailed 7-4.
Slammers win thrilling contest
Singapore Slammers won a gruelling contest to narrowly edge Japan Warriors 24-22 in the second edition of International Premier Tennis league.
In a see-saw battle, which witnessed some of the finest tennis, Slammers held their nerve to beat Warriors at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
Carlos Moya was unable to give Slammers the perfect start as the former French Open champion lost 6-2 against Thomas Enqvist.
But, Slammers bounced from that disappointment to go on a roll thereafter.
In the next game, Karolina Pliskova-Dustin Brown were involved in a tight battle with leander Paes-Kirsten Flipkens.
In the neck to neck contest, Pliskova-Brown broke Paes-Flipkens in the seventh game to go 4-3 up. They held on to their slender lead to seal the set 6-4.
In the women's singles Belinda Bencic had a field day over Flipkens, who was called in as a late substitute after Kurumi Nara and Mirjana lucic-Brown became ill.
Flipkens managed to break Bencic early on, but from then on it was a one way show. The Australian went to break the hapless Flipkens four times later to storm away with the set 6-1 to put Slammers 14-11 ahead.
The men's doubles was however an intriguing clash. Paes-Philipp Kohlschreiber broke Marcelo Melo- Nick Kyrgios in the third game to go 2-1 up.
However, in the eight game Slammers broke back. Thus the levelling the scores at 4-4.
But, the Indo-German pair made amends in the very next game to break Melo-Kyrgios to go 5-4 up. And, in the subsequent game, Warriors saw the set through in their own serve to bring them back into the match as they trailed Slammers 17-18.
Then, the onus was on Kohlschreiber to complete the comeback for the team. He produced a valiant effort against Kyrgios, but in the end fell short. Kohlschreiber lost 7-3 in the shootout to hand the game to Slammers.