Let’s go for the World Tennis League which started this Thursday in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). The first meeting pits Team “TSL Hawks” against Team “Honor X Falcons”. As a reminder, the format is as follows: five matches take place during the day, a men’s doubles, a mixed doubles, a women’s doubles, a men’s singles and a women’s singles. The matches take place in a winning set and it is the addition of the games which takes precedence at the end of the day.
After the first three doubles, it is Team “Honor X Falcons” which leads 19 games to 12 after having won all its matches. The last two singles will pit Casper Ruud (Hawks) against Taylor Fritz (Falcons) and Iga Swiatek (Hawks) against Elena Rybakina (Falcons).
Fritz and Nagal win at the wire
The first meeting of the day pitted Hubert Hurkacz and Casper Ruud (Hawks) against the pair Fritz/Nagal (Falcons). The American and the Indian were down 5-3 and saved a match point before recovering. The two pairs finally met in the tie-break.
On a big direct error in a smash from Hubert Hurkacz, the Falcons obtained a match point which they perfectly managed to convert to give their team the advantage (7-6). Fritz and Hurkacz then continued with the mixed doubles. The American was associated with Sorana Cirstea and the Pole with the Habs Caroline Garcia.
It was once again Team Falcons who took the upper hand, helped by Garcia’s numerous unforced errors but also by the success of Cirstea, who was very strong in this doubles. By winning 6-2, the Cirstea/Fritz pair allowed the Falcons to take the lead 13-8.
Cirstea confirms her good form with Rybakina
Associated with Sorana Cirstea, Elena Rybakina entered the competition in this World Tennis League. The two players were opposed to Iga Swiatek and Caroline Garcia. They made the break at the best moment at four all before concluding with their serve and bringing a third victory in as many matches to Team Falcons.
“We played really well. It was quite fun. I’m happy with my serve, it was a good warm-up for the singles. Sorana played very well, I think it was a very good match” rejoiced the Kazakh after the match.
“Playing doubles with Elena today was awesome. I always say she’s adorable. She’s the darling of the circuit,” reacted Cirstea, delighted to have been able to bring two victories to her team.
2023-12-21 13:57:18
#Falcons #lead #doubles
