A glamour doubles pairing of the iron willed Martina Navratilova and Pat Cash faced the multi slam winning, and ever smiling, Martina Hingis and Mats Wilander.
And it was close indeed, blow for blow all the way with Navratilova and Cash taking the tie break by just two points for a 6/5(8) victory. A crowd thriller, all angles and attitude, all the way.
The noise though came from the parallel court as the vociferous Henri Leconte and Victor Troicki went down to Mansour Bahrami and Stan Wawrinka 6/5 (3).
The Memorial Drive evening had begun with high sunshine but soon morphed into a pleasant yet windy affair with all current players initially struggling at times with the elements.
Vicktor Trociki will have hoped travel would have lagged Stan Wawrinka -he flew in this morning from Chennai, India – and indeed the Swiss failed to repel the big serve and solid baseline game of his opponent as the Serbian ran out a winner in two sets, 7/6(8), 6/2.
On court one, Nicolas Almagro, the week’s highest ranked player (11) put down a fashion statement with his lemon coloured attire but simultaneously laid down a statement of tennis intent, a sizzling forehand and lethal single handed backhand put paid to the dynamic and effervescent Alexandr Dolgopolov, back for a second consecutive year, 7/6, 6/3.
Henri Leconte v Mats Wilander, was a repeat of the 1988 French Open final and once again Wilander came out the victor, this time by 8/5 in the pro set, his consistency to the fore, rarely a mistake all night from the Swedish maestro despite the swirling winds.
Leconte, was simply, Leconte. Stylish, unruffled and ever unpredictable and at one point even throwing in a passable Gangnam Style impersonation. The crowd loved it, of course.
Meanwhile on court two, Adelaide born Wayne Arthurs, a singles replacement for Pat Cash, threw in his mighty left hand serve too often for Mikael Pernfors, a man who days ago had never been to Adelaide and didn’t even know he would be playing until his late call up.
Pernfors’ game was rusty in parts but the mantle of a former top 10 player had clearly not left him and he will improve on his 8/2 loss as the week progresses.
For full results visit worldtennischallenge.com.
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