Return Winners: A look back at the 2015 IPTL final

After the Davis Cup final, the last sanctioned event of the year, players from both the WTA and ATP tours hit the courts in Asia for a relatively new team event.

Setting: Founded by Indian doubles legend Mahesh Bhupathi, the International Premier Tennis League was in its second season in 2015. After a successful first campaign, the league expanded with the addition of the Japan Warriors. Over the course of the season, luminaries such as Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Andy Murray took the court, competing against other franchises in a five-set round-robin format. After a little more than two weeks, the two teams at the top of the standings were the India Aces and the Singapore Slammers. The Aces were going for their second title in a row.

The Final: First up, in the legends match, former world No. 1 Carlos Moya took on the always-tricky Fabrice Santoro, who led the Spaniard in their ATP Tour match-ups 3-1. Moya won the set 6-4 for the Slammers. Next up was women’s league MVP Belinda Bencic, who helped increase the Slammers’ lead with a win over the Aces’ Svetlana Kuznetsova.

India’s star doubles specialists Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna rolled over Dustin Brown and Karolina Pliskova in the third match, giving the Aces the lead by a point. That advantage would be short-lived, however, as reigning French Open champ Stan Wawrinka comfortably handled Australian Bernard Tomic.

With the score 20-18 in favor of the Singapore Slammers, Bopanna and men’s league MVP Ivan Dodig needed to win the doubles set 6-3 to give the Aces the title. Instead, Wawrinka and Marcelo Melo—who finished the regular ATP season on a tear—won 6-3, clinching the season title.

17

The total amount of Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles won by the players that took the court in the final.

2

Wawrinka, who helped clinch the men’s doubles set—and title—for the Slammers had only won two doubles titles in his career at that point. The other three players on the court for that crucial final set were all doubles specialists, all of whom at some point had cracked the Top 5.