Raonic, Serena power PH Mavericks to 2nd straight win

MANILA, Philippines -- Milos Raonic provided the highlight to atone for the heartbreaking loss suffered by local hero Treat Huey and world no. 1 Serena Williams' in the mixed doubles play as the Philippine Mavericks made it two in a row and dealt the UAE Royals their first loss in the Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League Season 2.

Bouyed up by a game home crowd, the Mavericks pulled off a 29-18 victory against the erstwhile undefeated Royals in the main match of the opening day of the IPTL Manila leg on Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Raonic showed why he's called "The Missile" launching his shots with lightning speed and even pulled one from his bag of tricks to turn back Tomas Berdych, 6-4, in the men's singles.

The 24-year old Raonic, who rose to his highest world ranking at no. 4 last May before dropping to no. 14 at the season's end, broke a 3-all deadlock with the help of a fanciful, behind-the-back return shot that got the crowd and even his teammates up on their feet.

From IPTL

The win gave the Mavericks a six-point advantage following Mark Philippoussis' rousing opening set 6-2 rout of Goran Ivanisevic in the Legends singles.

Raonic's morale-boosting win helped Huey and Williams got off to a strong 3-1 start against the pair of former Maverick Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic.

Things, however, started to fall apart from there as Nestor and Mladenovic got into their groove and took the lead, 5-4, before the Mavericks pair caught up and forced a super shootout.

It was a see-saw battle with the Royals taking the initial lead, 3-1, then Williams and Huey fought back and scored the next five points in the race-to-seven shootout.  The Mavericks just could not finish it off squandering a 6-3 advantage as Nestor and Mladenovic gave the Royals their lone win in the match.

Williams returned and bounced back with aplomb claiming an easy 6-3 win against former world no. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the women's singles to seal the victory for the Mavericks.

Richard Gasquet and Edouard Roger-Vasselin pegged the final count with a 6-3 win against the Berdych and Nestor tandem.

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