Andy Murray teams up with Maria Sharapova on IPTL debut
- Published
Andy Murray made a losing start on day one of the International Premier Tennis League in the Philippines, despite teaming up with Maria Sharapova.
Manila Mavericks' star players Murray and Sharapova lost in the mixed doubles before Marin Cilic beat the Scot 6-5 in singles as the UAE Royals won 29-24.
The four-team event takes place in Manila, Singapore, Delhi and Dubai, with the final on 13 December.
Murray is only scheduled to play over the three days of the Manila leg.
IPTL teams |
|---|
Indian Aces (Delhi): Federer, Sampras, Monfils, Ivanovic, Mirza, Bopanna, Santoro |
Manila Mavericks: Murray, Tsonga, Flipkens, Nestor, Moya, Sharapova, Huey |
Singapore Slammers: Serena Williams, Agassi, Berdych, Hewitt, Kyrgios, Hantuchova, Soares, Rafter |
UAE Royals (Dubai): Djokovic, Wozniacki, Cilic, Mladenovic, Ivanisevic, Zimonjic, Jaziri |
The ties are played over five sets in varying formats, with Murray and Sharapova the highest-profile pairing on day one but still going down 6-4 to Nenad Zimonjic and Kristina Mladenovic.
Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are among the other leading names due to take part, along with former champions including Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Goran Ivanisovic and Pat Rafter.
With ties decided by the total accumulation of games, Manila's challenge came to and end when Murray lost to Cilic in a decisive five-minute shoot-out - one of a number of innovations in the format.
IPTL innovations |
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Each match consists of five sets: men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles, men's doubles, legends' singles |
The team that wins the most games, accumulated from all five sets, wins the match |
Each set is played first to six games with a five-minute shoot-out at 5-5 |
Players have a 20-second shot clock between points |
Team coaches can call a 60-second time-out once during each set |
The receiving player can call a Power Point once every set, indicating that the next point counts double |
Murray, 27, was playing for the first time since facing Djokovic in an exhibition at the ATP World Tour Finals 12 days ago.
It was also his first appearance since it was confirmed that he will marry fiancee Kim Sears, and he revealed in a courtside interview that the wedding will be "next year, not sure when".
Sharapova and Murray - of the Manila Mavericks - are two of the biggest names in the first IPTL
Sharapova and Murray fought back from 5-1 down but could not avoid defeat in the mixed doubles
Murray lost to US Open champion Cilic in a five-minute shoot-out at 5-5
Gael Monfils featured in the first match of the competition as Indian Aces beat Singapore Slammers
- Published27 November 2014
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