SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – Maria Sharapova completed an epic comeback, and in the process brought the many fans present on day one of the 2014 Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) Manila Leg to their feet.
But her teammate, Andy Murray, was unable to put the finishing touches in his single’s match, leading to a defeat for the Manila Mavericks, 29-24, against the UAE Royals on Friday evening, November 28, at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Overall, the Mavericks lost four of the five matches they took part in on Friday, with Sharapova’s improbable 5-2 comeback serving as the only victory.
The action didn’t take long to pick up as Carlos Moya and Goran Ivanisevic needed an extra five-minute shootout to break their 5-5 tie to open the second fixture of the tourney’s debut.
Both stars exchanged scores throughout the extra session, with Ivanisevic taking a 7-5 lead late following a nifty smash that Moya couldn’t reach in time to defend.
Moya scored after, cutting his adversary’s lead to one. However, the UAE player decided to melt the clock down – with help from the 20-second shot clock – rather than delivering another service to close with a 7-6 victory.
In the second match, the Royals’ men’s doubles combo of Marin Cilic and Nenad Zimonjic outlasted the Mavericks’ Treat Huey and Joe-Wilfried Tsonga by winning the last two sets, 6-4.
The excitement of the crowd escalated for the third match of the fixture, which marked the debut of multiple-time champions Murray and Sharapova for the Mavericks. The duo, however, came out of the gates slow as they stared at a 4-1 deficit to Team UAE’s Zimonjic and Kristina Mladonevic after five sets.
Sharapova and Muray didn’t give in easily, winning the next there sets to cut the deficit to one, 5-4. In the 10th set, the two raced off to a 30-0 lead, but allowed their opponents to come up with four straight conversions to clinch the set.
Not long after, Sharapova and Mladenovic were back in the court right away for the women’s singles match.
Mladenovic established a 5-2 sets lead and seemed moments away from victory in the eighth set before Sharapova converted two straight to steal the win. Sharapova went on to win the next two sets, forcing a five-minute tiebreaker shootout.
With momentum and the crowd on her side, Sharapova dominated the extra session, scoring six of the first seven points. The world’s second ranked wound up winning the contest, 6-5, and cut UAE’s lead to four, 23-19.
The last matchup of the evening – a men’s singles contest between Murray and Cilic – also required a five-minute tiebreaker shootout to decide a winner.
Murray scored first, but relinquished his lead right away. With the advantage in his hands, Cilic took control of the tiebreaker the rest of the way and sealed the victory for himself and his club.
The Mavericks will be back in action on Saturday, November 29, when they take on the India Aces.
– Rappler.com
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