WATCH: Bertens wins best blooper reel moment of IPTL

Call it the Non-shot Heard Around the World.

Such was the fate of Kiki Bertens last week. The world No. 22 suffered a rather humiliating singles loss to Kirsten Flipkens in International Premier Tennis League play, competing for the Singapore Slammers.

Seemingly forgetting the (silly) IPTL rule that a ball toss on serve cannot be caught or dropped—indeed, it must be struck—she hesitated, belatedly swung, and missed. The ball landed on her head before meeting the court, untouched. And this was match point, for the team win.

The result: a double fault and an all-but-dumbstruck opponent and crowd, and a lost match. The upside is that Bertens could later poke fun at herself for failing to poke that serve over the net.

She was having a bit of a tough time to start the IPTL season, having also double faulted on match point against Martina Hingis when Bertens' Singapore Slammers team faced off against the UAE Royals in the season opener (and Bertens' IPTL debut).

But Bertens turned it around quickly, putting her first two losses behind her to win the last seven of her singles sets. In the final against the Indian Aces, after dominating Sania Mirza, Bertens also teamed up with Marcelo Melo to top Mirza and Ivan Dodig. The Slammers would win their second IPTL title in a row, 30-14.

In the absence of stars Roger Federer and Serena Williams, who each had their reasons for passing on the exhibition series, Bertens' hiccup on serve was certainly one way for IPTL to generate headlines.

Hat tip, *For the Win*.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.