MATCH REPORT: Inspired Dodig stars in a crucial win for the Aces over Slammers

IVAN DODIG’S SLAM-BANG tennis helped Indian Aces beat the Singapore Slammers (27-22) in their second match of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL)  in Kobe, Japan today. 

After Aces’ Gael Monfils withdrew from today’s match with an injury, Ivan Dodig was drafted in to fill the slot. In the end, the Croatian ended being the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the Aces. 

After teaming up with Rohan Bopanna in the men’s doubles, Dodig also paired up with Sania Mirza at the end of the fourth set and played a stunning final set against the in-form Nick Kyrgios to seal the tie in favour of his team. 

Early in the afternoon, at the toss, it was decided that the legends will take court first and both Fabrice Santoro and Carlos Moya held serve without any bother in the early games. However, as expected, it was Singapore’s Moya who blinked first to give Aces’ Santoro the lead. 

Both legends indulged in some intriguing rallies from the back. While, Moya kept hitting the lines from the back, Santoro used all his deception to good use. In the middle of the set, the Spaniard broke the Frenchman’s serve to level the set.

In the end, the set had to be decided by a shoot-out and it was Moya, who grabbed a hard fought set 6-5 after Santoro double faulted. 

In the second set of the afternoon, Aces’ Sam Stosur and Slammers’ Karolina Pliskova took the court. As expected, both ladies found comfort on breaking each other’s serve and had little hesitation in occupying the baseline. 

Pliskova kept hammering big serves at the Aussie and also found her forehand working nicely. At the closing stages of the set, the Czech broke Stosur to eke out a close win 6-4. 

After two sets, the scoreboard read:  Indian Aces: 9 Singapore Slammers: 12

The third set saw arguably the best tennis from Singapore’s pair of Marcelo Melo/Dustin Brown and Aces’ Rohan Bopanna/Ivan Dodig. Both teams put up an exhibition of doubles tennis that drew rich applause from the pIayers’ bench and the crowd. In the tenth game, the Aces’ duo used the power-point to break Brown’s serve for a hard fought 6-4 win. 

In the mixed doubles, the pair of Bopanna/Mirza broke Bencic/Melo early and raced to a 3-0 lead. The Aces then used their substitution and benched Bopanna. In came Ivan Dodig to join Mirza. Meanwhile, the Slammers too, called in their ‘Finisher’ Nick Kyrgios in place of Melo. 

Both teams then exchanged a few more breaks of serve, with the Aces still leading. The Aussie increased the tempo and the Slammers were a point away from leveling the match. That said, Dodig/Mirza recognized the danger and held to nail an entertaining set 6-3. 

Before the start of the fifth and final set, Aces led 21-19 and both Kyrgios and Dodig had a job to do. The Aussie had to beat the Croat in convincing fashion for the Slammers to win. However, Dodig served beautifully and remained aggressive in his shot-making. 

With no breaks of serve in the initial stages, the set looked like heading into a shoot-out. But, Dodig found a way to break through Kyrgios’ serve and held his own to seal the tie for his team. 

Both teams will now fly over to Manila for the second leg of the tournament.