UAE Royals returned to winning ways in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), prevailing over the Manila Mavericks 26-21 in a thrilling encounter at the Singapore Indoor Stadium Tuesday.
Royals lost the legends singles' set as Goran Ivanisevic was edged 5-6 by Mark Phillippoussis but US Open Champion Marin Cilic provided them the one-point lead with a 6-4 win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second set.
However, Tsonga returned to partner with Treat Huey in the men's doubles set and the pair registered a convincing 6-3 win over Royals' pair of Nenad Zimonjic and Cilic. This win gave the Mavericks a one-point lead.
Up next, Kristina Mladenovic turned out to be star for Royals. She paired up with Zimonic for a 6-1 win in the fourth and mixed doubles set over Daniel Nestor and Kirsten Flipkens.
Later, the 21-year-old French defeated Flipkens 6-4 in the fifth and final set to ensure that her team wins the game by a margin of five points and also leapfrogs Manila to be second in the standings.
--Indo-Asian News service
pur/vt
