IPTL 2016: Indian Aces suffer first defeat of the season against Singapore Slammers

Tokyo: Indian Aces lost all but one match as they suffered their first defeat of the 2016 IPTL season, losing 20-30 to Singapore Slammers on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_3139206” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of the Indian Aces team. Image credit: Twitter/@IndianAces[/caption] Mark Philipoussis began the day for the inaugural champions but lost 3-6 to Thomas Johannson in the legend singles. Kirsten Flipkens, who had scripted a decisive win for the team yesterday, though could not help the side today, losing her women’s singles contest 4-6 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 were now trailing by five points and they needed a big win from Feliciano Lopez but the Spaniard lost 3-6 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. They now share the top spot with Royals with seven points each but are placed second as they have won 76 Games, compared to 79 of Royals. The Top two teams in the points table will play the finale on 11 December.