IPTL 2016 Results: Friday Tennis Scores, Winners and Latest Hyderabad Schedule

Japan Warriors took a 25-20 victory over UAE Royals at the International Premier Tennis League in Hyderabad, India, on Friday. 

Japan won all but two sets during the match, with doubles pair Jean-Julien Rojer and Fernando Verdasco taking one of them 6-0.

Later on Friday, the India Aces opened up their account on home turf with a convincing victory over OUE Singapore Slammers, defeating their latest opponents 24-19 to retain their place atop the overall standings and book their place in Sunday's final.

Feliciano Lopez dazzled as the Aces' talisman, too, as he teamed up alongside Ivan Dodig to defeat Marcelo Melo and Marcos Baghdatis in doubles before sealing a donut beating of Nick Kyrgios in his singles outing.

Here's a look at the morning session's results, courtesy of the official IPTL Twitter feed:

Friday Recap

India Aces became the first team to clinch their spot in the 2016 IPTL final on Friday after their 24-19 win over Singapore Slammers saw them take a four-point lead at the summit of the standings.

That leaves Japan Warriors four points behind in second, meaning the Aces can afford to save their energy in Saturday's outing as the official IPTL Twitter account provided a breakdown of Friday's afternoon session results:

Veteran Lopez led the assault and started his team's day in the right fashion with a 6-2 triumph over Baghdatis and 6'8" Melo in the men's doubles, but it wasn't until the singles action that he really opened his stride.

In a familiar display of what appeared to be low motivation, Kyrgios slumped to a 6-0 thrashing at Lopez's hands and was subject to a humiliating defeat at Hyderabad Gachibowli Indoor Stadium.

Although stand-in leader figure Lopez did his bit, Kirsten Flipkens was unable to follow suit and surrendered a 6-2 defeat to Kiki Bertens, while Sweden's Thomas Enqvist dropped 6-4 against Slammers star Carlos Moya.

Fortunately for the Aces, the mixed doubles pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza were in the mood to shine in front of a home support, and tennis writer Jake Davies noted the former was playing particularly well:

he Indian doubles specialists came close to conceding their clash against Singapore Slammers counterparts Melo and Bertens, coming back from 5-4 down to force a tiebreak and ultimately snatch a 6-5(2) victory at the death.

Their result was a crucial one, too, considering the scale could have tipped in the Slammers' favour had they lost by a big margin. As things stand, though, they can now prepare for Sunday's final, where they'll face the victor of Japan Warriors' Saturday meeting with the Slammers. 

Earlier in the day, Japan Warriors got off to the ideal start as Marat Safin beat Goran Ivanisevic 6-3 in the legends' singles.

After sharing the first four games, Russian former world No. 1 Safin broke the Ivanisevic serve and kept his cool to win well.

UAE Royals struck back in emphatic fashion in the second matchup of the day. Ana Ivanovic proved far too strong for Kurumi Nara, triumphing 6-1 after just 19 minutes on court at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium.

One spectator was impressed by the Serbia star's display:

The next clash saw mixed-doubles pairings Jelena Jankovic and Jean-Julien Rojer for Warriors, up against Ivanovic and Daniel Nestor for Royals.

Ivanovic began the match in the same kind of impressive form but saw her serve broken midway through the set as the Warriors duo fought back well from 4-2 behind to take it to a last-game shootout.

And it was Jankovic and Rojer who completed an outstanding comeback to win the set 6-5.

Kevin Lee/Getty Images

There was no respite for Rojer, who was back on court straight away to partner up with Fernando Verdasco as they took on Royals' Tomas Berdych and Pablo Cuevas in the men's doubles.

Momentum was clearly with the Dutch player, as he and Verdasco took a meagre 17 minutes to steamroller their opponents 6-0 and put Japan Warriors firmly in the driving seat ahead of the final encounter of the match.

That clash, between Berdych and Verdasco proved a much tighter affair as it became the second set of the day to go down to the wire. The pair could still not be separated and tied the set 6-6, which meant Warriors wrapped up a comfortable overall win.