After skipping over action for two days, Stefanos Tsitsipas was elected to play the 2023 World Tennis League final and he succeeded with Paula Badosa.
Tsitsipas is part of the Kites, arguably the best team this week. He participated in doubles earlier in the week, debuting in mixed doubles with his girlfriend Badosa a few days ago.
The Tsitsidosa pairing showed up today for the final despite Tsitsipas being replaced at the event previously due to back issues. The U-turn surprised many because nobody really expected him to suit up, but there are some theories as to why he did.
A very likely one is that his back issues are mostly discomfort and not something too serious. A second theory is that he wanted to play one more match with his girlfriend, and on the court, it was clear why.
And finally, it's the final of the event, so one mixed doubles match shouldn't really make a huge difference. He's not playing the singles match for his team, though, so keep that in mind.
Anyways, the pairing took on the Russian combo Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev. One final reminder is that the format makes every game count literally.
Each game won by either team is worth a point, and the team with the most points at the end of 5 matches will be the winning team. Both teams started their match by winning the first service game.
Tsitsidosa were a bit shaky to start as they faced a few break points but were able to fend them off successfully, so the score remained tied at 2-2. The match continued to be very close and exciting, but neither team really found any kind of breakthrough.
By the time the score hit 6-6, Medvedev and Andreeva failed to convert nine break points, three of which were match points. Ultimately it proved hugely costly because Tsitsipas and Badosa were able to win the match by winning the tiebreak 7-5.
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