The United Arab Emirates Royals opened up Saturday’s contests with a 28-22 conquest of the DBS Singapore Slammers in the 2014 Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) presented by Qatar Airways at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Thanks to the Baltic core of Kristina Mladenovic, Marin Cilic, and legend Goran Ivanisevic, the Royals get the full four points heading into their clash against the tough Micromax Indian Aces.

UAE’s Marin Cilic opened play in the first set by displaying the same top-notch skill that defeated Andy Murray a day earlier to snuff Singapore’s Tomas Berdych, 6-4.

However, Berdych teamed up with Nick Kyrgios in the men’s doubles second set to top Cilic and partner Nenad Zimonjic, 6-5, to inch closer via aggregate, 10-11.

In the third set, Kristina Mladenovic nearly completed a clean sweep of Daniela Hantuchova during the women’s singles, 6-1, to extend their lead, 17-11.

With the UAE duo of Zimonjic and Mladenovic appeared headed to change the tide of the fourth set that was tied at 4-all, Singapore Coach Josh Eagle made a tactical switch to put in Kyrgios in favor of Bruno Soares in the hopes of turning the 0-30 ninth game around.

The ploy worked, as Kyrgios served like a man possessed in connecting on three consecutive aces to gain the momentary 5-4 lead, then paced Singapore in the five-minute shootout with a 7-4 result to come out winners via a 6-5 result in the set.

But in the nip-and-tuck final set, Goran Ivanisevic broke serve against Australian Patrick Rafter during the five-minute shootout to claim the 6-5 win and the match for the Royals.

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