IPTL REPORT: Singapore ride on their winning momentum to leave Japan winless
THE SINGAPORE SLAMMERS once again displayed some clinical, team tennis to comfortably beat the Japan Warriors 29-20 in the opening match of the Philippines leg of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) in Manila yesterday.
From set one to the last, the Slammers played as a cohesive unit and executed their strategy from targeting particular players, time-outs and use of the power-point to perfection. Given their dominant performance, the Slammers had long wrapped up the tie even before the finals set got underway.
First up, legends Carlos Moya and Marat Safin took the court and straightaway engaged in long, exciting rallies. However, it was Singapore’s Moya who made the move early by breaking Japan’s Safin and raced to a 3-0 lead.
Just when it appeared that the Spaniard would run away with the set, the Russian came back with some of his trademark shots to level the match. Both men were playing a high-intensity set and eventually had to be separated by a shoot-out. In the end, Moya edged Safin in a tight shoot-out 6-4.
In the men’s doubles, the Slammers used their power point to break serve in the third game. But Warriors’ Leander Paes/Herbert came back to break at the crucial juncture, when Dustin Brown/Marcelo Melo were serving for the set.
The set then had to be decided in a tiebreak and with some quality returns from Paes/Herbert at the closing stages, helped the Warriors to nail an entertaining set 6-5.
Up next, it was the turn of the Japan’s Kurumi Nara and Singapore’s Belinda Bencic to battle it out in the women’s singles category. After breaking early, the Japanese raced to a 2-0 lead, but the Swiss hit back with some quality returns and winners to level things at 2-2.
After getting her rhythm back, Bencic started overpowering her opponent, owing to which the Warriors substituted the Japanese girl with Lucic Baroni. That said, even Baroni could hang tough with a motivated Bencic. In the end, the Swiss girl drove home the advantage by winning the set 6-2. After three sets, Singapore was leading Japan by 17-12.
The fourth set saw both men Philip Kohlschreiber and Nick Kyrgios exchange some heavy balls from the back court. In an evenly contested match, it was the German who broke first move in front, but the Aussie hit back with some trademark shots to level the match. In the tie-breaker, both men didn’t give an inch, but again it was the 20-year-old Kyrgios who went for broke and grab a hard fought set 6-5.
Kyrgios stayed back on the court to partner Bencic in the mixed doubles. On the other side of the net, the pair of Herbert/Baroni tried hard to keep their noses in front, but the Singapore pair played some inspired tennis to wrap up the fifth and final set of the afternoon without much fuss 6-3.
After the match a delighted Kyrgios said,
“I love the game, the format. Last year I played Andy Murray here, and it was one of the best matches for me. The crowd in Manila is great, we had a lot of fun here last time, and I was really looking forward to playing in Manila again. I’ve played a lot of junior tennis here, and so it feels good.” On his aggression and anger, he added “I am not an angry person. I’m very calm by nature. I play to win, I play to compete – whether on the tour or in the IPTL. My aggression adds good energy to my game, and I like that!”
While the Slammers will enjoy a rest day today, the Warriors will play the Philippine Mavericks in the second match of the day.
