United Cup: Rybakina, Shevchenko clinch mixed doubles to seal Kazakhstan's win over Spain

Perth, Dec 27 (IANS) Kazakhstan opened their campaign in the United Cup mixed team event as former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina led them to a key opening-day win over Spain in Group C of the United Cup in Perth on Friday.

After pulling her country back onto level terms with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the second match of the day, Rybankina teamed with fellow No. 1 singles player Alexander Shevchenko to clinch the deciding mixed doubles over Pablo Carreno Busta and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 10-7. World No.9 Shevchenko had earlier lost to World No. 14 Pablo Carreno Busta in the opening match of the competition.

Earlier, in her first match alongside her new coach, 2001 Wimbledon champion and former ATP World No.2 Goran Ivanisevic, the 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina had things go mostly her way in her first career meeting with Bouzas Maneiro.

“It was a really tough one, first matches are always difficult,” Rybakina said in her on-court interview. “It’s not easy to get used to [it] that quick, but I’m really happy with the way I played today.”

Rybakina rolled to a quick 4-0 lead, but Bouzas Maneiro found her footing in the rallies and had more forehand winners than Rybakina in the first set (5 to 4), according to a report on the United Cup website.

Bouzas Maneiro held four break points at 4-2 to completely pull back on serve, but Rybakina powered her way out of that danger, wrested back the momentum, and eventually broke at love for the one-set lead.

The Kazakh took the lead in the second set by firing multiple backhand winners in a love break for 4-2. Bouzas Maneiro made one last push, holding three break points at 5-3, but the Rybakina power game won out as she regrouped and closed out the win with a rally crosscourt backhand.

Carreno Busta had earlier given Spain an initial lead with a 6-2, 6-1 win over World No. 78 Alexander Shevchenko in Group C play on Day 1 of the mixed teams' event.

The 33-year-old won 78 percent (21/27) of his first-serve points and struck three aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in 61 minutes.

With the win, the former World No. 10 improved to 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Kazakhstan will qualify for the quarter-finals if it defeats Greece in its second group match on Monday.

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