Day Five: Kites and Hawks Book Place in World Tennis League Final on Saturday

• Kites and Hawks Reach the Final after double matchday at Coca Cola Arena 

• Swiatek and Rybakina Earn Comfortable Victories 

• Djokovic Fends off Gallant Challenge from Ofner 

 

 

Dubai, United Arab Emirates; 23rd December 2022: The Kites will battle The Hawks on Saturday to become the first winners of the World Tennis League after an incredible double matchday in Dubai. The Kites topped the points table as they completed their round robin matches with 113 points, with The Hawks amassing 106 points from their three rounds of play.  

 

Although it would ultimately prove to be in vain, The Eagles got off to a winning start as Nick Kyrgios and Bianca Andreescu (Eagles) linked up to defeat Dominic Thiem and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Hawks) 6-4 4-6 10-7. The opening set was close throughout, with Thiem's loss of his serve in the first game of the match the only thing to separate the two teams. Thiem also dropped the opening game of the second set to put The Hawks under pressure. But the set was levelled at 2-2 when Andreescu lost her serve, and then Kyrgios surprisingly was broken at 5-4 to level the match at one set all. The Eagles though responded by edging the super tiebreak 10-7. 

 

The eagerly anticipated battle between reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and recent WTA Finals winner Caroline Garcia was highly competitive for most of the first set, before Rybakina took control to claim a comfortable 7-5 6-1 victory. 

 

It was Garcia who had the first glimpse of success as she forced Rybakina to fight off a break point before holding for 3-3. But, as the set seemed destined to go to a tiebreak, Garcia had her own serve broken at love to trail 5-6, and Rybakina also won the next game at love to take the set. Rybakina kept up the pressure in the second set, breaking to win her fifth straight game and lead 2-0, and as Garcia went on to surrender two of her next three service games Rybakina strolled to victory to level the tie for The Hawks. 

 

The Hawks then went on to win the tie when Alexander Zverev took the first set from Andreas Seppi 6-4 after at first failing to serve out the set when he had broken to lead 5-3. He was also immediately broken back after he took Seppi's serve to lead 2-0 in the second set, but as at the end of the first set he broke back again right away to re-establish his advantage and to lead 3-1. Zverev briefly found himself under pressure as he had to fend off three break points to lead 5-2, before he broke again for the match. 

 

To begin the second matchday, Holger Rune and Sania Mirza started well for The Kites against Grigor Dimitrov and Paula Badosa of The Falcons, breaking both of their opponents' serve was not only enough to earn them the first set but to secure a place in Saturday's final. A break of Mirza's serve then gave The Falcons a 2-1 lead in the second set and that was enough to stretch the match to a super tiebreak, which was won 10-5 by The Kites. 

 

Iga Swiatek then demonstrated why she has dominated the game throughout 2022, not only winning the French and US Opens but establishing a huge lead at the top of the rankings. The WTA Player of the Year and 2022 ITF World Champion broke the serve of Aryna Sabalenka right at the start to lead 1-0, and went on to demoralise her opponent by surrendering just one game in the set with a stunning display of skill and athleticism. 

 

Often laughing at her misfortune to meet an opponent in such devastating form, Sabalenka managed to make more of an impression in the second set, twice recovering a break of serve to be level at 3-3. But that is as far as her resistance could manage, as Swiatek broke again to lead 5-3 and serve out the match. 

 

Novak Djokovic was in jovial mood as he faced Sebastian Ofner, but although he quickly took a 3-0 lead he found Ofner a skilful opponent and, when the set went to a tiebreak, he double-faulted to concede the opening set. The 21-times Grand Slam champion did though allow his superior ability to emerge in the second set which he took 6-0, and he went on to win the super tiebreak 10-7. 

 

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 5 Matches: 

 

 

Eagles v Hawks 

 

• Nick Kyrgios/Bianca Andreescu (Eagles) def Dominic Thiem/Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Hawks) 6-4 4-6 10-7 

• Elena Rybakina (Hawks) def Caroline Garcia (Eagles) 7-5 6-1 

• Alexander Zverev (Hawks) def Andrea Seppi (Eagles) 6-4 6-2 

 

 Kites v Falcons 

 

• Holger Rune/Sania Mirza (Kites) def Grigor Dimitrov/Paula Badosa (Falcons) 6-2 4-6 10-5 

• Iga Swiatek (Kites) def Aryna Sabalenka (Falcons) 6-1 6-3 

• Novak Djokovic (Falcons) def Sebastian Ofner (Kites) 6-7 (5-7) 6-0 10-7 

 

 

Standings after Day 5: 

 

	Ties Played	Games Won	Bonus Points Won	Games Won	Points Won
Kites	3	97	16	54.2	113
Hawks	3	94	12	52.2	106
Eagles	3	83	6	46.6	89
Falcons	3	81	3	46.8	84