Singapore ace Indian in IPTL-2 final

Despite going down to Singapore Slammers 21-27, defending champions Indian aces reached the finals of the International Premier Tennis League(IPTL) at the Singapore indoor stadium here tomorrow. The Aces – headlined by Rafael Nadal – would win the final two sets in doubles competition.

Slammers were put ahead by Carlos Moya when he downed Fabrice Santoro 6-4 in the men’s legends match.

But they finished superbly, winning six of their last seven matches, a run which co-incided with the arrival of Murray and Wawrinka.

The overall success of the IPTL this year, which has attracted large crowds in Singapore especially, will be a massive boost for the tournament according to IPTL’s founder and managing director Mahesh Bhupati.

Frenchman Santoro, the Indian Aces coach, had pulled out of Dubai leg due to fever but his return could not inspire a winning start for the last year’s champions.

Swiss starlet Belinda Bencic stretched the advantage by a game after the 18-year-old fought off a gritty challenge from Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova to claim the women’s singles, 6-5.

The Slammers regained the momentum with a brilliant set by Stan Wawrinka to beat Bernard Tomic 6-3 in the men’s singles.

The men’s doubles, this season’s last set, turned into a title-deciding contest and it was Slammers pair of Wawrinka and Marcelo Melo that prevailed 6-3 against Bopanna and Ivan Dodig to give Singapore a 26-21 win. They got United States dollars 50,000 each for the dominant tennis they played all throughout the season.

“I just came along at the end and helped the team”, Wawrinka said.

IPTL is the first city-based professional league in the world and played in respective countries.