Sabalenka secures two wins on World Tennis League day one

World number two Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus went off to a good start at the World Tennis League event in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates on 21 December, BelTA has learned.

In the Kites squad the Belarusian paired with Spain's Paula Badosa defeated the Russian-U.S. tandem Mirra Andreeva and Sofia Kenin 6-3. In the singles Aryna Sabalenka beat Sofia Kenin 6-2. The Kites, also featuring Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas and Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, defeated the Eagles squad 27-22.

The Falcons squad comprising Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina, Romania's Sorana Cirstea, Taylor Fritz of the United States, and India's Sumit Nagal beat the Hawks (Poland's Iga Swiatek, Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, France's Caroline Garcia and Norway's Casper Ruud) 27-24.

Two matchups are scheduled for 22 December: Kites vs Falcons, and Eagles vs Hawks.

The teams will play each other in a round-robin format. Following the round-robin phase, the top two teams will face off in the final on 24 December 2023.

The Hawks squad (Elena Rybakina, Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Dominic Thiem of Austria and Germany's Alexander Zverev) won the previous edition of World Tennis League in Dubai in 2022.