Andy Murray & Maria Sharapova lose for the second time in IPTL
- Published
Andy Murray (right) will complete his IPTL stint on Sunday
Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova suffered another day of defeats in the second round of International Premier Tennis League ties in the Philippines.
The pair had lost as a mixed doubles team on day one, and went down again as Manila Mavericks lost to Indian Aces.
Murray and Sharapova were beaten 6-1 by doubles specialists Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, after Murray had earlier lost 6-4 to Gael Monfils in singles.
Ana Ivanovic then beat Sharapova 6-3 as Indian Aces prevailed 24-15 overall.
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 four-team event began in Manila on Friday and will move on to Singapore, Delhi and Dubai, with the final on 13 December.
Murray is only scheduled to play over the three days of the Manila leg before the Briton heads to the United States for his annual off-season training block.
Sharapova, the reigning French Open champion, only committed to play the first two days of the inaugural exhibition event.
"This is the first year. Everything is a learning process," said the Russian.
"I felt such a great amount of energy walking out to the court. I really felt the warmth here. I'm very blessed to have good fans who are committed and have followed me through so many years."
Sharapova admitted the 20-second shot clock - one of a number of innovations being used in the team format - was something she had struggled to get used to.
IPTL innovations |
|---|
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 |
"I feel like pressing 'snooze' all the time," she said of the loud beeping that warns players if they are getting close to the time limit.
Murray will complete his IPTL stint on Sunday when Manila take on Singapore Slammers, with Tomas Berdych due to face the Scot in singles.
Ivanovic and Monfils enjoyed a successful day as the star names of the Indian Aces team
Sharapova and Murray lost as a mixed doubles pairing for the second day in succession
Murray could not pick up a first win in the singles as he went down 6-4 to Monfils
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