Coca-Cola IPTL: Singapore Slammers vs UAE Royals preview

Marin Cilic is crucial for Royals’ chances tonight

On the sixth day of the Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League, the Singapore Slammers will face the UAE Royals. This will be the 12th match of the ‘Happiness Open’, as it has been fondly called.

On one side, the Slammers camp will be on Cloud 9 because of their last match win against the Indian Aces. Before that match, the Slammers were looking like real underdogs, but now the other teams will have to modify their strategy against the confident Singapore side.

On the other hand, the UAE Royals have looked composed in all their matches. They are currently placed second in the league. In their last face-off against the Slammers in Philippines, they won the match 28-22.

Note: The order of play will be known 45 minutes before the start of the match.

Men’s singles

Croatian Marin Cilic will likely face the Czech Tomas Berdych in the men’s singles set. The current US Open champion is unbeaten in the singles event and he will try to continue that run of form against the Czech.

Berdych on his part will try to end Cilic’s winning run and take revenge for their last match, where the former was defeated 4-6. But the Czech will have his work cut out against the big serve and powerful groundstrokes of Cilic.

Women’s singles

The peppy Serena Williams will face Kristina Mladenovic in the women's singles event. Williams is known to dominate with her serve, and her dynamic strategies usually help her win the baseline battle as well.

Mladenovic has had a moderate IPTL so far. It goes without saying that she will have to be at her best to beat the American.

Men’s doubles

The duo of Cilic and Nenad Zimonjic will in all probability face Lleyton Hewitt and Nick Kyrgios in this set. The Slammers will look to employ the same strategy that helped them win against the Aces, that is, relying on Kyrgios’ big serve and Hewitt’s speed to prevent the opponents from getting into any rhythm.

Cilic and Zimonjic will have find answers to Hewitt’s accuracy and strong returns, and also to Kyrgios’ power. This one promises to be a barn-burner, that’s for sure.

Mixed doubles

The Slammers and the Royals both seem to be on the same side of the coin here. The Royals have not been trying too hard to change things in mixed doubles, and have been sticking with the pair of Nenad Zimonjic and Kristina Mladenovic.

The duo of Williams and Soares lost the set against the Indian team of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza in their previous match. It will be interesting to see if they revert back to Williams and Kyrgios.

Legends’ singles

Andre Agassi will look to register his first win in the league after two losses in front of the Singapore crowd. It will be an exciting encounter between the eight-time Grand Slam champion and 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic.

But we could also see another repeat of the iconic 2001 Wimbledon final if the Slammers decide to play Pat Rafter in place of the American. Either way, this is going to be an electrifying battle between former Grand Slam champions.