Bopanna briskly bagels Blake

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Bopanna briskly bagels Blake
Rohan Bopanna plays a backhand shot against James Blake during the International Premier Tennis League at Dubai Tennis Stadium on Tuesday. - Photo by Shihab

Dubai - Rohan wins three sets as Micromax Indian Aces down the Philippine Mavericks

by

Alex Leach

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Published: Wed 16 Dec 2015, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Thu 17 Dec 2015, 11:29 AM

Stand-in skipper Rohan Bopanna set the tone for another dominant Micromax Indian Aces display by bagelling the Philippine Mavericks' James Blake in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) here on Tuesday.
With the Aces' regular captain Fabrice Santoro having seemingly been taken ill overnight, Indian doubles specialist Bopanna replaced him in the first-up men's legends encounter against retired American Blake.
It appeared slightly unfair to pit an active player against an ex pro and so it ultimately proved, with Bopanna reeling off six straight games in just 13 minutes to get his team off to a pacey and perfect start.
Bopanna's service was certainly firing on all cylinders. He won 100 per cent of the points on his first serve (nine from nine) and he fittingly - given the franchise's name - threw down two aces to his opponent's none.
His first-serve percentage was noticeably higher (64 per cent to Blake's 56 per cent) and he won twice as many points on his first serve (nine to four) and hit twice as many winners (four to two). Blake meanwhile coughed up seven unforced errors, whereas Bopanna gave away only three.
Blake didn't win any of his two deciding points on serve, while Bopanna had a 100 per cent record in that regard too (one from one).
Blake also failed to make the most of the solitary break point chance that came his way, with Bopanna creating six opportunities to break the Maverick's serve and taking three of them. However, what had appeared a 6-0 whitewash for the Indian Aces later transpired to be 6-0 walkover for the Philippine Mavericks as Bopanna couldn't legitimately replace Santoro as a 'men's legend' under the rules and regulations.
The Filipino representatives were then well ahead on the scoreboard albeit their hopes of remaining there looked decidedly slim in the ladies' singles, where the inexperienced Ajla Tomljanovic took on the imperious Agnieszka Radwanska.
To be completely fair to the Australian world number 65, she more than held her own in the opening four games and even mounted a mini comeback towards the end.
Nonetheless, Radwanska's greater know-how and nous shone through in the middle sector as she went from 2-1 behind to 5-2 up for a lead that wasn't to be relinquished despite Tomljanovic getting one of the two breaks of service back.
'Aga' was marginally the stronger competitor in terms of the key service statistics, yet Tomljanovic hit more winners (11 to nine) and was slightly more clinical at the net (5/11 net points won compared to 1/3).
The subsequent mixed doubles match played out in much the same way the women's singles had done.
Bopanna and Sania Mirza broke Edouard Roger-Vasselin's serve in the very first game and, with Croatian Ivan Dodig replacing Bopanna at 3-2 up, the new-look Aces pairing broke Jarmila Gajdosova's service to open up a 5-2 advantage.
Mirza all but gifted one of those two breaks back immediately, but she and Dodig stabilised sufficiently thereafter to close it out at 6-4.
If Dodig's insertion had been unexpected, what followed couldn't have been forecast as dark clouds overhead opened to herald a rain delay.
When play eventually resumed, Bopanna and Dodig squeezed home to a 6-5 (7-2) victory over Treat Huey and Roger-Vasselin in the men's doubles and Bernard Tomic overcame Ivo Karlovic 6-4.
The Micromax Indian Aces had whitewashed the Philippine Mavericks 5-0 to their way to an impressive 24-23 win.
alex@khaleejtimes.com


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