World Tennis League: Andrey Rublev anchors Team Falcons to opening win over Team Hawks

Andrey Rublev has anchored Team Falcons to opening glory in the World Tennis League which is taking place between Dec 19-22 in UAE. He has seen off Jordan Thompson in two lots of overtime to claim the win.

After the two games, it was set that Rublev and Shapovalov would face Nagal and Thompson with the latter side initially leading through a double dose of Aryna Sabalenka led wins. The World No.1 did her job early on teaming with Mirra Andreeva to defeat Caroline Garcia and Elena Rybakina.

A Rybakina that she defeated twice in the morning as she won through in their singles narrowly after spurning a 5-0 lead to win in the tie-break. But Nagal and Thompson winning in the format which sees the points all mattering, it was Rublev that saw them ironically win due to the close nature of Sabalenka's two wins.

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Rublev defeated Jordan Thompson 7-5. This made it 24-26 and brought the scores to 24-26 meaning no conclusive winner as Rublev and Thompson went into overtime. This saw Rublev win 2-0 and set up a tie-break which the Russian won 27-26. This saw them claim the tie 29-26.

Next up is Eagles v Kites featuring Tsitsidosa, Iga Swiatek, Simona Halep and Jasmine Paolini. Nick Kyrgios as of right now will not play despite being pencilled in to be involved. Ruud instead pulls double duty. Alexander Shevchenko who was initially in due to withdrawals will team with Paula Badosa. As a result of Kyrgios not playing on the same team as Swiatek due to recent doping criticism, he joined the team when withdrawals and changes happened.

Full Results - Team Falcons 29-26 Team Hawks

Garcia/Rybakina - Andreeva/Sabalenka 6:7(5)

Rybakina - Sabalenka 6:7(3)

Rublev/Shapovalov - Nagal/Thompson 5:7

Rublev - Thompson 7:5

shootout: Rublev - Thompson 2:0

super shootout: Rublev - Thompson 10-6