Falcons clinch win over Hawks on a scintillating deciding shoot-out
Ruud closed the gap for the Hawks by sweeping aside Taylor Fritz 6-1, before Rybakina and Swiatek required a deciding shoot-out to separate the two teams
Elena Rybakina 2024
Team Falcons have won the opening tie of the 2023 World Tennis League in Abu Dhabi, beating the Hawks 27-24 in a contest that went right down to the wire.
After five matches, the teams were drawn at 24-24, with Swiatek and Rybakina playing a super shoot-out to conclude a compelling encounter.
The doubles matches had all gone the way of the Falcons, with the Hawks trailing by seven points prior to the start of the two singles matches.
That is, until Casper Ruud stepped up for Team Hawks to dismantle Taylor Fritz 6-1 and pull his team five points closer to their opponents. Prior to the match, the Hawks were19-12 down, but Ruud’s excellent performance re-ignited the tie, moving the Hawks to within two points of their opponents at 20-18.
The final match of the tie was a mouth-watering prospect, with world No 1 Iga Swiatek taking on Elena Rybakina in the crucial deciding encounter – and it did not disappoint.
Both players were able to find something close to their highest level as they played out a thrilling match, going toe-to-toe in an exhibition of full-throttle tennis from start to finish.
The match went on serve for the first nine games as there was little to separate the two.
But it was Swiatek who made the decisive move, breaking in the tenth and final game of the match to win in 6-4, levelling up the scores at 24-24 and thereby sending the overall tie into a super shoot-out.
The shoot-out was the first to nine points, with a winner-takes-all sudden-death point should the shoot-out end 9-9.
It proved just as close and compelling as the set that had preceded it. A see-sawing climax saw Swiatek claw back a three-point deficit to level up the scores at 8-8.
But Rybakina regained her trademark ice-cool composure to take the next two points and deliver the Falcons a deserving win after a tie that could not have been much closer.
The Eagles take on The Kites in the second tie of day one at the World Tennis League.
