Manila, Philippines-A ball was kicked, a racket was slammed, and two tiebreaks were played, all in the opening match on the first day of the Manila leg of the International Premiere Tennis League (IPTL) last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
In the lead-in to the PH Mavericks-UAE Royals meet, the OUE Singapore Slammers downed the Legendari Japan Warriors, 29-20.
Carlos Moya set the tone for the Slammers by racing up 4-2 in the opening set against the Warriors’ Marat Safin. Safin responded. At first by kicking the ball and slamming his racket, and then by getting back 2 games against Moya, before Moya sealed the opening set win with a forehand winner at 6-4.
The Slammers would go on to win in the Women’s Singles, Men’s Singles, and the Mixed Doubles category. Slammer Belinda Bencic routed Kurumi Nara, 6-2, while Bencic’s teammate Nick Kyrgios ended his thrilling encounter with Philipp Kohlschreiber in a shoot-out, 6-5.
Despite the 29-20 aggregate scoreline, the only set the Warriors managed to wrestle away from the Slammers was in Men’s Doubles with a Leander Paes and Pierre-Hugues Herbert win over Slammers Dustin Brown and Marcelo Melo at 6-5.
