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IPTL 2015 - SINGAPORE, 18 December 2015 IP: 203.116.177.189 Posted on December 18, 2015 at 07:49:53 PM by David Barnes
INTERNATIONAL PREMIER TENNIS LEAGUE (IPTL)
2015 EDITION
SINGAPORE, 18 December 2015 (DAY 1)
A different city, and thus a different ‘marquee player’ or ‘icon’ joins the team bus (or team plane, in this case, since the players are being ferried around Asia and the Gulf by chartered jet); today it was Stan Wawrinka’s turn to garner the headlines as the star attraction alongside Roger Federer, Andy Murray having contracted to play only in Dubai, where he was doing his pre-Christmas training block.
The programme for the first day in Singapore had the Philippine Mavericks playing the Japan Warriors in the afternoon session, followed by the Singapore Slammers taking on the UAE Royals in the evening; tomorrow, Saturday, the penultimate day, the Mavericks will play the Royals, and the Slammers the Aces. At the time of writing the final is more than likely to be contested between the last mentioned teams, which is not ideal in that they would play each other two days running, but it will take a supreme effort by the third-placed UAE Royals for the outcome to be different.
James Blake took on Marat Safin in the first match of the afternoon, the ‘Legends’ singles’, which is stretching meaning a little, but it proved an entertaining set, the charismatic Russian overpowering the lacklustre American especially on his serve, which was little short of devastating, 6-3. Kurumi Nara had an easier time of things immediately after against Jarmila Gajdosova, easing through 6-1.
The mixed doubles saw some great tennis – Leander Paes on terrific form, playing with Mirjana Lucic-Baroni for the Japan Warriors – and they easily got the better of opponents Gajdosova and Roger-Vasselin, 6-2. The Warriors thus led 18-6 at this stage, and were enjoying themselves, but Paes and his partner Pierre Hugues-Hubert came up against, in Roger Edouard-Vasselin and Conrad Treat-Huey, a combination of raw energy and more complicated names; verbosity in the nomenclature department won the day, 6-5, in a close set of great enjoyment. So a 29-15 victory for the Japanese Warriors, somewhat against the run of form thus far in the tournament.
Goran Ivanisevic was on devastating form against Carlos Moya in the opening evening session for the UAE Royals, taking on the home team, winning the set 6-4 in a mere 22 minutes, and engaging with the crowd – a huge crowd compared to previously in Dubai – with real fervour. He made it clear that he and his teammates do not see the final on Sunday as beyond their reach. Kristina Mladenovic continued where Ivanisevic had left off, winning the deciding point at 6-6 in the tie-break for a 6-5 win, in 39 minutes.
Federer had played indifferently in the mixed doubles (losing 6-3 to Dustin Brown and Karolina Pliskova), but in the next set with Daniel Nestor he was a changed man, moving to 5-3 with relative ease - despite Wawrinka substituting for Melo to give the Slammers some extra firepower - and he finished the set off with a glorious smash for a comprehensive 6-4 victory – his first in the event this year. As Nestor said afterwards, “I’m 43, no-one wants to play with me any more”, which was diplomatic, since he would have been forgiven for avoiding Federer, given the latter’s losing streak.
Against his compatriot Wawrinka the great Federer moved to a 3-0 lead with ease, to 4-1 with one of the most exquisitely perfect service games that you’ll ever see, but then lost his serve with some wild forehand play to hand the initiative back to the younger man, trailing 3-4 on serve, and the upstart drew level at 4-4 with a couple of wondrous down the line backhands. Federer pushed on and won the set 6-4, the Royals the match 27-23, and he said he was really glad he’d come to Singapore and that he hoped he’d be back next year. The Royals, still in third place, are closing the gap on the Singapore Slammers, with less than two percentage points separating them.
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David Barnes/Topspin, 2015
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