The second tie of the day at the 2023 World Tennis League saw Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka take on Iga Swiatek and Caroline Garcia, and the French-Polish combination won.
This was a pretty important match for both teams because both needed the points. The format of this event makes it so literally every game matters because every game counts as one point.
The team with the most points wins at the end of the tie. Each tie between teams features five matches, three doubles, and two singles, so keeping the scores close matters a lot.
On paper, this matchup favored Sabalenka and Badosa because they are very good friends and have played doubles in the past.
Both Swiatek and Garcia are capable players, especially the latter; however, they found out pretty quickly that this wasn’t going to be an easy match. Badosa and Sabalenka took the early break 2-1, hoping to win the match.
Their team already had the lead before the match, so winning this match would put the Kites in a really good position to win the overall tie as well.
Badosa and Sabalenka served better, which was a big advantage in the match as they cruised through their points until they broke. They immediately lost their serve in the next game.
Not much changed in the next two games as the teams traded breaks once more. Eventually, the French-Polish combination was able to find some great angles from the baseline and outhit their opponents to take a 5-3 lead.
They would hold serve to win it 6-3, which was a crucial win for their team as they were able to take the lead.
After this match, the Hawks have a 10-9 lead over the Kites after this spectacular turnaround by Garcia and Swiatek. They were down a break twice in the match.
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