Slammers cop IPTL title over Aces

MANILA, Philippines - The Singapore Slammers relied on the big win by Stan Wawrinka in the men’s singles last night to repulse the Indian Aces, 26-21, and rule the second edition of the International Premier Tennis League.

Wawrinka, winner of the 2014 Australian Open and 2015 French Open, looked every inch a champion, providing the crucial 6-3 win over Bernard Tomic to give the Slammers back the lead.

Wawrinka quickly returned to the court to team up with Marcelo Melo and hand the Slammers the title with a 6-3 victory over Rohan Bopanna and Ivan Dodig in men’s doubles.

The Aces, last year’s IPTL champions, had threatened to keep the crown after three sets, but couldn’t hold off the Slammers on their homecourt, the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

After five legs in the five key cities of Japan, Philippines, India, the UAE and Singapore, the Slammers of Andy Murray were crowned this year’s champions.

Aside from the golden trophy, the Slammers won the $1 million prize and the bragging rights.

“The most important in the IPTL is to play as a team. We got along together and we played as a team and at the same time we had fun,” said Melo.

Dodig, of the Aces, won the men’s MVP plum while Belinda Bencic, of the Slammers, lifted the women’s MVP title.

The UAE Royals of Roger Federer finished third in the second IPTL season, followed by the Philippine Mavericks of Serena Williams and the Japan Warriors of Maria Sharapova.

Carlos Moya, the former French Open champion, opened up the scoring for the Slammers by turning back Fabrice Santoro in the legends singles, 6-4.

Moya, now 39, has always provided the spark as team captain for the Slammers.

“All the matches are very important. Since every game counts, there is no priority. We want to try and win all of them,” said the Spanish legend, once the world’s top player.

With Murray providing the spark, the Slammers won five of six matches going to the finals, two of them against the Aces, including a 27-21 win the other night.

Bencic stepped up by beating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the women’s singles, 6-5, as  the 18-year-old Swiss gave the Slammers a 12-9 lead after two sets.

But the Aces struck back in mixed doubles with Bopanna and Sania Mirza outplaying Dustin Brown and Karolina Pliskova in just 21 minutes, 6-2.

That gave the Aces the upperhand after three sets, 15-14.