Day Four: Record Setting Fourth Day Sees Kites Lead at World Tennis League

 

 The Kites came out on top against The Hawks on the fourth evening of the World Tennis League, but they had to battle hard for their 42 points to 31 victory. 

 

In the opening match, Alexander Zverev and Elena Rybakina of the Hawks faced Sania Mirza and Felix Auger-Aliassime of the Kites. In the first set there was only one break point up until 5-5, on Auger-Aliassime's serve in the opening game, but then Mirza was broken to leave Rybakina to serve out the first set for The Hawks 7-5. 

 

Things quickly moved in the opposite direction when the second set got underway, as Zverev saved two break points but then double-faulted on the advantage point at deuce to give The Kites a 2-0 lead. That was enough for The Kites to eventually claim the set 6-3 and take the match to a super tiebreak, with The Hawks recovering to take it 10-5. 

 

Iga Swiatek, the world number one, reigning French and US Open champion, WTA Player of the Year and ITF World Champion, was the firm favourite to win against an opponent who had missed most of the 2022 season with a knee injury. But Pavlyuchenkova was at a career-high ranking of 11 shortly before her injury and was certainly not to be taken lightly, and after falling behind 2-0 she rallied magnificently to place Swiatek under real pressure. She broke to serve for a 5-3 lead, but Swiatek responded by not only levelling at 4-4 but breaking again at 5-4 for the set. 

 

Despite her disappointment, Pavlyuchenkova maintained her composure in the second set and was the first to break serve to lead 2-1. But a double fault allowed Swiatek to level at 3-3, and another strong finish to the set and further break for 5-3 left Swiatek serving for victory. 

 

Auger-Aliassime, who recently led Canada to its first ever Davis Cup Finals victory, returned to court to face Dominic Thiem. The entire match was evenly balanced, with Auger-Aliassime fighting off two set points on his serve at 4-5 before dominating the first set tiebreak 7-2. The second set followed a similar pattern, with Auger-Aliassime trailing in the tiebreak before securing victory with the decisive point at 6-6. 

 

Despite The Kites leading the points table, there will be everything to play for on Friday when all four teams are in action on the penultimate day of the World Tennis League, with only the two teams with the greatest number of points advancing to the Final. 

 

There are three matches in each of the six sessions, featuring a mixed doubles, a women's singles and men's singles. Teams get one point for each game they win, plus five bonus points for winning most games in a match. One point wins the game at deuce, there is no advantage scoring, and if sets are one set each a super tiebreak is played, first to 10. That tiebreak can be won by a single point margin. Finally, the team manager can call one timeout in each set. 

 

Day 4 Matches: 

 

Kites 42 points Hawks 31 points 

 

Alexander Zverev/Elena Rybakina (Hawks) def Sania Mirza/Felix Auger-Aliassime (Kites) 7-5 3-6 10-5 

Iga Swiatek (Kites) def Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Hawks) 6-4 6-3 

Felix Auger-Aliassime (Kites) def Dominic Thiem (Hawks) 7-6 7-6 

 

 

Standings after Day 4: 

 

	Ties Played	Games Won	Bonus Points Won	Games Won	Points Won
Kites	2	67	10	54.0	77
Hawks	2	59	7	48.4	66
Eagles	2	60	5	50.0	65
Falcons	2	56	2	47.5	58

 

23rd December 
2PM Eagles v Hawks 
Rohan Bopanna/Bianca Andreescu v Dominic Thiem/Sania Mirza 
Caroline Garcia v Elena Rybakina 
Nick Kyrgios v Alexander Zvevev 
 
6PM Falcons v Kites 
Grigor Dimitrov/Paula Badosa v Holger Rune/Sania Mirza 
Aryna Sabalenka v Iga Swiatek 
Novak Djokovic v Felix Auger-Aliassime