Elena Rybakina played a really great set of tennis, but it wasn't good enough to beat Aryna Sabalenka, who won the match and the whole tie for her team at the 2023 World Tennis League.
Before they even took to the courts, Rybakina's team, the Falcons, played a few really good matches to put themselves in a great position to win the tie. Rybakina just needed to beat Sabalenka in any way to ensure that they'd win, and she almost did.
Before the match, the Falcons led by one, thanks to the unique format. Players are paired up in teams of four, with each tie between teams consisting of 5 matches. Every match is basically just one standard set of tennis, but the games are what counts.
Each game won in each match counts as one point, and the scoreline is the number of games each team has won. Before the match, Rybakina's team led 24-23, so you can see how her victory would have sealed the deal.
The match itself was well played by the Kazakhstani player, who looks pretty good in Abu Dhabi this week. She's one of the better-performing players both in singles and doubles, but Sabalenka has been better.
The Kazakhstani player bested Sabalenka in the doubles earlier today, but she couldn't do the same thing in the singles. Rybakina brought her heavy game from the start, giving Sabalenka a lot of trouble on the second serve.
The Belarusian barely won any points on the second serve early as Rybakina did enough on her serve to keep the lead. At 5-3, Sabalenka played a superb game to actually break back and make it 5-4, which turned around the whole match.
From that point, Sabalenka grew in confidence and ultimately won the set 7-6(2). Due to the score being tied between the teams, they played a match tiebreak, and it was a dominant effort from Sabalenka, who won it 10-6.
That was all she needed to win the tie for her team in a really dramatic twist.
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