Roger Federer, the winner of 17 Grand Slams, made a memorable debut in IPTl as he inspired Indian Aces to a 26-16 victory over Singapore Slammers here on Sunday. Federer played three matches and went on to win all three of them with relative ease.
In the second match of the day, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic made his debut for UAE Royals but his outing didn't prove to be fruitful for his team as they lost to Manila Mavericks 24-27. He played only the men's doubles match with Nenad Zimojic and lost after entering into a shoot-out to Jo-Wilfired Tsonga and Daniel Nestor.
The Aces went down 2-6 in the first match of the tie, with 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras, playing for the first time in the tournament, losing to old rival Patrick Rafter. Sampras looked rusty with most of his trademark backhands landing out or hitting the net.
Then came the moment whole of the stadium was waiting for. Federer paired with Sania Mirza in the mixed doubles match, and began his IPTl sojourn in perfect fashion winning the match 6-0. Teaming with Bopanna in the men's doubles match against lleyton Hewitt and Krygios, Federer continued to wow spectators with his deft touches to take the set 6-1.
Aces led 14-7 going into the men's singles match and Tomas Berdych had a tough task of reducing the deficit against Federer. Berdych initially trailed 0-2 but he came back to level the match at 3-3. The Swiss maestro, however, proved to be too good.