Saturday 6 December 2014 18:14, UK
The UAE Royals impressed on day one of the International Premier Tennis League from Delhi, beating the Singapore Slammers 29-16.
When the two teams met in the Singapore leg of the competition the Slammers came out victorious with a tight 27-25 win, but there was not to be a repeat this time.
World No 9 Marin Cilic gave the Royals a dream start and defended a brave comeback by Lleyton Hewitt to comfortably take the opening set 6-3 in the men's singles.
Cilic then partnered Nenad Zimonjic in the men's doubles and they eased past the Slammers' all-Australian pairing of Hewitt and Nick Kyrgios 6-2 to extend their overall lead.
In the past-champions game, crowd favourite Goran Ivanisevic proved he has still got the court craft and put in a dominant performance to beat Pat Rafter 6-1.
The Royals looked unbeatable going into the mixed doubles and once again came out on top.
Zimonjic, joined by partner Kritina Mladenovic, wowed fans with a highly athletic display to beat Kyrgios and Daniel Hantuchova 6-4.
The final match of the day saw former women's world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki take on Hantuchova.
Both players showed great skill in a tight game, but it was Hantuchova who came out on top, picking up the Slammers' first match win of the day 6-5.
The overall team points finished Royals 29-16 Slammers.
After the match, Royals' Goran Ivanisevic said: “It is a great crowd out here and I hear that it is going to be even better in the coming days! I’m happy that I was 5-0 against Pat at one stage and won later. When you win a couple of times, you come to a match feeling psychologically confident.”
Watch more IPTL tennis across the week on Sky Sports. For information on television times heas to www.skysports.com/watch/tennis-on-sky