Aryna Sabalenka and Taylor Fritz won the Eisenhower Cup last year, but they won't defend their title in 2024 as they fell in the opening round.
The Eisenhower Cup is a popular exhibition ahead of the Indian Wells Open, that brings together the best players in the world, showing their talent to the fans at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, while collecting money for charity.
The event is played in the Tie-Break Tens format, with one match tie-break to 10 points deciding the winner. Last year, Sabalenka and Fritz won the trophy, but this year, they have already stumbled on the first hurdle.
The draw for the tournament assigned them Holger Rune and Caroline Wozniacki in the opening round, a duo, which likely wants to practice their mixed doubles before the Olympics in Paris, where they aspire to compete together.
The start of the match was quite close with both teams being able to stay close to their opponents, but at 7-5, the Danish duo created first wider gap between themselves and the defending champions.
They then won two of the following three rallies to make it 9-6, and despite an effort from Fritz and Sabalenka to turn the match around, Rune and Wozniacki won it 10-7, reaching the semifinals of the competition.
Despite losing the match, Sabalenka and Fritz were in a really good mood, as obviously, a loss at the exhibition tournament doesn't mean the end of the world for either of them. The American joked that it was Sabalenka who carried him in the match.
"My partner really tried the best to carry me, but I really let the team down, I'm not going to lie."
The Belarusian, on the other hand, was already looking forward to her Indian Wells Open campaign, as she'll want to at least replicate last year's final run.
"I'm excited to be back. I love this tournament, I love the people. I'm just excited to play my first match."
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