World Tennis League: Kenin inspires Eagles to lift trophy
An excellent singles win for Sofia Kenin – plus Andrey Rublev doing just enough – wrapped up a World Tennis League triumph for Team Eagles, beating the Kites 29-26. “After Sofia won the singles, I was sure we were going to win the title – that’s why [my] singles was a bit tougher!” laughed Rublev … Continued
Sofia Kenin in Rome (Zuma/Panoramic)
An excellent singles win for Sofia Kenin – plus Andrey Rublev doing just enough – wrapped up a World Tennis League triumph for Team Eagles, beating the Kites 29-26.
“After Sofia won the singles, I was sure we were going to win the title – that’s why [my] singles was a bit tougher!” laughed Rublev afterwards.
At 2-1 down, Kites’ Grigor Dimitrov challenged a call for the third time in the match, but Rublev conceded the point with a grin, much to the apparent surprise of his team-mates on the bench.
And it inspired the Bulgarian to win the next two games, taking a 3-2 lead and eventually 6-3 at the end of the match – meaning that the Kites were just three games behind the Eagles, 28-25, necessitating a period of overtime.
Dimitrov served first and held, much to Rublev’s frustration, released in a yell, which seemed to help him prepare for his own service game, with his forehand firing in exceptional style. Dimitrov won the match 7-4, but those four games were enough for the Eagles to lift the trophy.
It followed an excellent singles win for Kenin, who put Rublev in such a strong position going into his match. Her deft drop shot brought up what would have been a match point, but Aryna Sabalenka’s powerful ace saved it. The Eagles made no mistake with the second one, though, winning 6-4 as Sabalenka slid into the net and attempted a delicate dropper of her own, but simply skidding to the ground.
It put the Eagles 25-19 up with just the men’s singles to go, leaving Rublev with what seemed to be a relatively straightforward task – but the drama kept going right to the end.
The Kites also reached the final last year in the inaugural edition, losing to the Hawks – but the team then consisted of Iga Swiatek, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Holger Rune, Sania Mirza, Sebastian Ofner and Eugenie Bouchard. (Three of this year’s Kites – Badosa, Sabalenka and Dimitrov – were in the Falcons last year, along with Novak Djokovic, and lost all three of their group ties, finishing bottom of the table.)
