The Singapore Slammers shocked the Indian Aces 26-21 to win the second edition of the International Premier league Tennis (IPTL) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday, and claim prize money of $1 million.
The Indian Aces had finished top of the IPTL table with Slammers finishing in second place, meaning the two met in Sunday’s final.
The home team took a two-point lead after Carlos Moya beat Fabrice Santoro 6-4 in the men’s legend’s singles set. Frenchman Santoro, the Indian Aces captain, had been suffering from fever and had pulled out of two sets in last week’s Dubai leg, but his return could not inspire a winning start from last year’s champions.
Belinda Bencic extended her team’s lead after she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 in 42 minutes, the match’s longest set.
With every game counting towards the final result, the Indian Aces had done well to keep within touching distance and came storming back to win the mixed doubles 6-2 and lead 15-14.
The Slammers regained the momentum with a brilliant set by Stan Wawrinka to beat Bernard Tomic 6-3 in the men’s singles.
The two-point lead gave the hosts a slight advantage going into the mixed doubles, the season’s last set, and there was no let off. Stan Wawrinka and Marcelo Melo, the world’s No 1 doubles player, beat Rohan Bopanna and Ivan Dodig 6-3 to give Singapore a 26-21 win and leave the home crowd celebrating.
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