Gulf News

Kites fly high on first day of World Tennis League

TEAM STAGE A COMEBACK TO SECURE 35-27 VICTORY OVER EAGLES

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The Kites were the first team to claim victory on the opening night of the World Tennis League yesterday as they staged a comeback 35-27 victory over The Eagles.

The tournament exploded into action as Nick Kyrgios fired an ace on the opening point, and partnering Bianca Andreescu he kept a grip on proceeding­s to defeat Holger Rune and Eugenie Bouchard (Kites) 6-2 6-3.

After a comfortabl­e opening set for The Eagles things tightened up in the second, and just one break of serve against Eugenie Bouchard to give her opponents a 5-3 lead settled the outcome.

The second match of the evening saw a clash between recent WTA Finals champion Caroline Garcia of The Eagles against world No 1, WTA Player of the Year and ITF World Champion Iga Swiatek. In a high quality battle it was Swiatek who came out on top with a well-earned 6-3 6-4 victory to level the tie.

The deciding match between Kyrgios and Felix Auger-Aliassime also produced great entertainm­ent as Auger-Aliassime had to fight his way into the match after dropping the opening three games. But he rose well to the challenge and quickly levelled at 3-3 before going on to snatch the set 7-5. A break for 3-2 was then enough to secure a 7-5 6-3 victory for Auger-Aliassime and a 2-1 win for The Kites.

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.

There are three matches in each of the six sessions, featuring a mixed doubles, a women’s singles and men’s singles.

 ?? ?? Iga Swiatek in action during her match against Caroline Garcia. She won 6-3, 6-4.
Iga Swiatek in action during her match against Caroline Garcia. She won 6-3, 6-4.
 ?? ?? Novak Djokovic meets young fans.
Novak Djokovic meets young fans.

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