IPTL: Indian Aces suffer first defeat of season

Indian Aces lost all but one match as it suffered its first defeat of the 2016 IPTL season, losing 20-30 to UAE Royals, here on Sunday. Mark Philipoussis began the day for the inaugural champion but lost 6-3 to Thomas Johannson in the legend singles.

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna lost 6-4 to Martina Hingis and Pablo Cuevas of the UAE Royals.

Indian Aces lost all but one match as it suffered its first defeat of the 2016 IPTL season, losing 20-30 to UAE Royals, here on Sunday.

Mark Philipoussis began the day for the inaugural champion but lost 6-3 to Thomas Johannson in the legend singles.

Kirsten Flipkens, who had scripted a decisive win for the team on Saturday, though could not help the side today, losing her women’s singles contest 6-4 to Swiss great Martina Hingis, a first-timer in IPTL.

Hingis returned again with Pablo Cuevas and got the better of the Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna 6-4. It was the first match for Sania and Hingis against each other after splitting.

Indian aces was now trailing by five points and needed a big win from Feliciano Lopez but the Spaniard lost 6-3 to Czech Tomas Berdych.

The match was beyond the Indian team now and the combine of Lopez and Bopanna managed a 6-6 tie in the men’s doubles against Daniel Nestor and Cuevas.

Indian Aces had beaten Japan Warriors and UAE Royals in the first two matches. It now shares the top spot with Royals with seven points each but is placed second as it has won 76 Games, compared to 79 of Royals.

The top two teams in the points table will play the finale on December 11.