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Aryna Sabalenka defeats 16-year-old prodigy Mirra Andreeva en route to Team Kites win at World Tennis League
WTAThursday, 21 December 2023 at 20:05
The World Tennis League has begun and Team Kites were the second team to take one step towards the final after defeating Team Eagles 27-22 in their opening tie as they surge towards the top of the table. Aryna Sabalenka (Kites) finished it off with victory over 16-year-old prodigy, Mirra Andreeva (Eagles)
Team Falcons also won their opening tie earlier in the day anchored by Elena Rybakina with Team Hawks close behind with Iga Swiatek. Team Eagles are bottom of the group on 22 points albeit with everything still to play for heading into Day Two.
Chemistry and relationships off court prove vital
Always with a trump card heading into the tournament of multiple players on the team being friends or even being in a relationship, that proved to be the vital part for Kites. To start off with best friends off court in Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka (6-3) took the only break of the contest to shade their tie with Sofia Kenin and Mirra Andreeva.
Next up was the Mixed Doubles as Stefanos Tsitsipas finally teamed up with his girlfriend, Paula Badosa to face Kenin and Daniil Medvedev of the Eagles winning 6-4. The Greek in particular impressed on his serve and his forehand as Kenin and Medvedev struggled to keep up with the finely tuned duo.
The third and final doubles match of the day saw Andrey Rublev and Medvedev who are close friends off court finally trump the Kites in a 7-3 win. A closely fought contest, the Russian pair stepped up in the tie-break to take it and they moved closer. The Kites led the Eagles 18-14.
Rublev vs Dimitrov followed with the former making it even closer with a 6-3 win over Dimitrov. But it was now up to Sabalenka to anchor her team home. She won six games on the spin to show her experience against the rising star to ensure a 27-22 victory over the Eagles and end a superb opening foray.
Results - Kites 27-22 Eagles
Paula Badosa/Aryna Sabalenka (Kites) 6-3 Mirra Andreeva/Sofia Kenin (Eagles)
Paula Badosa/Stefanos Tsitsipas (Kites) 6-4 Sofia Kenin/Daniil Medvedev (Eagles)
Grigor Dimitrov/Stefanos Tsitsipas (Kites) 6-7(4) Daniil Medvedev/Andrey Rublev (Eagles)
Grigor Dimitrov (Kites) 3-6 Andrey Rublev (Eagles)
Aryna Sabalenka (Kites) 6-2 Mirra Andreeva (Eagles)
Total - 27-22
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