World Tennis League 2024: Iga Swiatek, Stefanos Tsitsipas help Eagles climb to second place with win over leaders Falcons

The victory kept Eagles in contention to qualify for the finals of World Tennis League 2024.

After suffering defeats in their first two matches, the Eagles bounced back with a 20-15 victory over the Falcons in their last match of the World Tennis League 2024 held at the iconic Etihad Arena on Saturday. 

This win took Eagles to second place with an overall game tally of 54 points, while the Falcons, despite the setback, held on to the top spot with 68 points.  However, all eyes will be on the final league-stage match between Hawks and Kites, as the finalists will be determined later in the evening after this showdown. With all four teams still in contention, the match promises to be a decisive and thrilling encounter.

The women’s singles clash between Eagles’ Iga Swiatek and Falcons’ Elena Rybakina began on an even note. Swiatek broke Rybakina’s third serve to seize the advantage and went on to comfortably close out the set 6-3 for the Eagles.

In the women’s doubles, Iga Swiatek and Paula Badosa made an immediate impact, breaking the opening serve of their opponents, Elena Rybakina and Caroline Garcia, to take control of the set. The duo cruised to a comfortable 6-2 victory, extending Eagles’ lead to 12-5. 

The men’s doubles saw a similar dominance from the Eagles as Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Shevchenko outclassed Falcons’ Andrey Rublev and Denis Shapovalov. The Eagles duo closed out the set 6-4 with ease, giving their team a massive 18-8 lead.

In the all-important set of the match, Falcon’s Rublev came out all guns blazing against Eagles’ Tsitsipas. Rublev stormed to a commanding 5-0 lead before Tsitsipas managed to hold serve, making it 5-1. Rublev then sealed the set 6-1, narrowing the overall score to 15-19 and pushing the game into Over Time.

Despite his earlier struggles, Tsitsipas rose to the occasion in the Over Time, holding Rublev to love in a critical game to clinch the match 20-15. The victory marked the Eagles’ first win of the season.

Rublev, who has been in fine form and has won all the men’s singles sets he has competed in at WTL so far, reflected on his performance. He said, “I don’t think I’m leading the team; it just happens that my singles matches have been the last ones, and I’ve managed to win them all, so maybe it looks that way. But the truth is, we’re a team, and we’re all trying to do our best together.” 

“Today, I think I played a good match. It was Stefanos’ first singles match here, so it’s understandable he didn’t feel his best. I struggled in my first match too, but now I’ve adjusted to the conditions, and I think I played really well today,” Rublev added while talking about his match-up against Tsitsipas.

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