Sharapova wins but Mavericks fall to Royals

MANILA, Philippines – Maria Sharapova charmed the big home crowd with an epic come-from-behind win in the singles match but it was not enough to lift the Manila Mavericks to an opening day win in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The UAE Royals took the other four matches to book its first win, 29-24, in the unique team-based tournament.

Sharapova came all the way back from 2-5 down to win the match, 6-5, via shootout in what became as the lone win by the home team.

Tennis legend Goran Ivanisevic set the tone for the Royals with a close 6-5 win over Carlos Moya, also via shootout, in the past champions singles. US Open champion Marin Cilic teamed up with doubles specialist Nenad Zimonic in the men’s doubles to thwart the tandem of Phl Davis Cup netter Treat Huey and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-4.

Sharapova and Andy Murray also rallied from deep 1-5 deficit to make it close, 4-5, in the mixed doubles but Zimonic and Kristina Mladenovic bucked the pressure to squeeze out a 6-4 win that gave the Royals enough cushion to win the tie.

"It's a different format. It will take a few days to get used to that. We didn't get off to the best start and we played catch-up and in the end, we could've caught up but we didn't win enough games unfortunately," Murray said. 

Sharapova’s come-from-behind win in the women’s singles kept the Mavericks within striking distance, 19-23. But Cilic took care of business and relied on power points and Murray's unforced errors late in the match to seal the Royals’ victory, 6-5, again, via shootout.

The Mavericks will look to bounce back this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. as they take on the Indian Aces, who are coming off a big opening day win over the Singapore Slammers.

The Royals and Slammers face-off in the curtain-raiser at 4 p.m.