Indian Aces beat UAE Royals to go top in IPTL

Singapore, Dec 6 (IANS) Indian Aces defeated UAE Royals 26-19 in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) to stand atop the standings with 10 points here on Tuesday.

It was IPTL's third win in the tournament. They began positively with Kirsten Flipkens beating former World No.1 Serbian Ana Ivanovic to win the women's singles as the Belgian woman was unstoppable in strokeplay.

The mixed doubles tie was a battle between two former partners as Aces fielded Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna while Martina Hingis and Pablo Cuevas featured for the Royals. The Indian duo emerged victorious.

Mark Philippoussis won the tie against Thomas Johansson in the legends tie.

Tomas Berdych lifted the Royals' spirits up with a win over Feliciano Lopez in the men's singles tie.

In the second match of the day, Singapore Slammers had the best possible debut in front of their home crowd with a 29-16 win over Japan Warriors.

Kiki Bertens gave the Slammers a solid start with a comfortable win over former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic in the women's singles. Bertens was all firepower and converted three break points.

Rainer Schuettler was made to work but prevailed over Fernando Gonzalez in the legends tie.

Bertens completed her perfect day with a win alongside Marcelo Melo, topping Jelena Jankovic and Jean-Julien Rojer in the mixed doubles tie.

The men's doubles match was a tight affair with Rojer and Fernando Verdasco winning for Warriors against Marcos Baghdatis and Marcelo Melo.

Slammers claimed the contest when Nick Kyrgios thumped Fernando Verdasco in the men's singles tie.

--IANS

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