Indian leg win vs Slammers keeps Mavericks in joint 2nd

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila Mavericks whipped the slumping DBS Singapore Slammers in the final day of the India stage of the International Premier Tennis League, scoring a 23-17 rout to remain tied with the UAE Royals at second in the overall rankings after three legs Monday.

The Mavericks actually fought back from an 11-14 deficit after three sets behind Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Daniel Nestor’s 6-0 rout of Lleyton Hewitt and Nick Kyrgios in the men’s doubles and unbeaten Mark Philippoussis’ 6-3 romp over Patrick Rafter in a Legends duel at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

Those victories more than made up for Nestor and Kirsten Flipkens’ 3-6 setback to Kyrgios-Daniela Hantuchova in the mixed doubles and Flipkens’ 2-6 loss to Hantuchova in women’s singles as the Mavericks pooled 27 points overall for joint second with the Royals, who beat the host Micromax Indian Aces, 29-22, in their side of the duel.

Tsonga clobbered world No. 9 Thomas Berdych, 6-2, in the first set.

“I was enjoying with Nestor and we’re really doing well together. The more we play, the better we feel playing. Normally, when you lose a set in a tennis match, you can start from scratch and do well again. Out here, you need to change your mindset completely,” said Flipkens on the novel format of the inaugural league which kicked off in Manila two weeks ago and held its second leg in Singapore last week.

The Royals, meanwhile, dominated the first three sets as Kristina Mladenovic upended Ana Ivanovic of the Aces, 6-5, in a shootout in the women’s singles and Goran Ivanisevic fashioned out a 6-3 win over Pete Sampras, who gave the crowd a taste of his greatness before he was replaced by Fabrice Santoro.

Mladenovic then teamed up with Nenad Zimonjic and crushed Aces’ Roger Federer, who replaced Rohan Bopanna) and Sania Mirza, 6-2. But Federer bounced back in a tandem with Gael Monfils to clinch a pulsating 6-5 win over Novak Djokovic and Zimonjic in the men’s doubles shootout.

Federer then battled Djokovic in the keenly-awaited men’s singles match in the fifth set where the two aces traded shots after shots and displayed their talent and skills before the highly-appreciative crowd. Federer, however, pulled through in the shootout, 6-5.

Still, the Royals romped off with a 29-22 victory but the Aces still stayed on top of the overall ranking with 30 points. The Slammers, led by world No. 1 Serena Williams, remained too far behind at fourth with 17 points.