Tight wins and a Team Peace lead at Credit One Bank Day 3

The Credit One Bank Invitational is through three days of play and Team Peace has taken a surprising 8-6 lead. Here’s a recap of Day 3 and a Day 4 lookahead.

Match #1: Jennifer Brady (Team Peace) def. Victoria Azarenka (Team Kindness) 6-3, 6-2

Brady came in as the underdog against the 2-time major champion but clearly showed why she belonged to play against the best. Azarenka came out strong, however, breaking Brady at 40:15 to take the first game of the match. Brady broke right back, winning the second break point of the game to even the set.

The two women served wonderfully throughout the match and it clearly showed in the first set. On the return, the two combined for 3 total points in the five games following 1-all in the first set (Brady had two of those). Brady finally broke Azarenka again and followed that up with a hold at love to take the first set.

The former #1 fell apart in the second set on her serve. Brady broke Azarenka’s first three service games and got to 5-1 before she was able to finally hold. Brady finished off the match by winning her second match point in the game to take the match 6-3, 6-2.

(Team Peace leads 4-2)

Match #2: Stephens/Anisimova (Team Kindness) def. Bouchard/Collins (Team Peace) 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-7

Stephens and ANisimova got off to a rough start last night, going down a set quickly to Eugenie Bouchard and Danielle Collins. The Team Kindness duo battled back, and although the team couldn’t capitalize up a break at 5-4, they rallied and won the second set in a tiebreak. The third set remained extremely tight throughout but it was the comeback crew that took the match.

This was Anisimova’s second point that she contributed to her team. The first came yesterday, where she defeated Collins 7-5, 6-4 in singles.

(Team Peace leads 4-3)

Match #3: Madison Keys (C) (Team Kindness) def. Caroline Dolehide (Team Peace) 6-1, (6)6-7, 10-4

Team Peace Captain led the way in Day 3 with a tight 3-set victory over Caroline Dolehide, making it the first match of the tournament to go into 3 sets. She came out firing on all cylinders as she converted 2/5 break points (including a break at love) to take the set 6-1.

She continued her strong play in the second set and got up to 3-0 before being broken for the first time in the match. Dolehide followed that up with a hold to make it 3-2. Keys went up 4-2 after holding serve and looked to be back in control before being broken again to even the set at 4-all. The two went into a 2nd-set tiebreak, where Keys failed to convert on 3 match points at 6-3. Dolehide went on a hot streak and took the final 5 points of the tiebreak to even the match.

The Captain proved her experience by not letting her guard down in the 10-point tiebreak. She went up 7-2 and eventually clinched the set 10-4, which gave her team the win.

(Team Peace and Team Kindness tied 4-4)

Match #4: Allison Riske (Team Kindness) def. Emma Navarro (Team Peace) 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-7

This match was tightly contested from the very beginning. Each player broke the other twice in the first set and never got more than 1 game ahead. Riske broke first at 2-all to give her a 3-2 lead but was broken right back to make it 3-all. The same scenario happened later in the set; Riske broke to go up 6-5 before Navarro broke back at love to force the set into a tiebreak.

The tiebreak remained close and Riske closed out the set after converted her second set point at 6-5 to win it.

The youngster turned it on in the second set, breaking Riske in the first game. Riske broke back in the very next game, but it was Navarro that had the upper hand. She saved 4 break points in a 5-duece game before holding to get to 3-all. She then broke Riske again and held to go up 5-3. She clutched out the second set 6-4 to bring the match to one-all.

Unfortunately for Navarro, her luck ran out against the top-20 singles player. Riske got off to a hot start, going up 4-0 before the 19-year-old was able to secure a point. Navarro battled back, however, winning 5 straight points to get the match to 6-5. In the end, it was Riske’s experience to know when to step up and go for broke in the later points of the set. She won 4 points in a row, and 5 of the final 6 to take the match.

(Team Kindness leads 6-4)

Match #5: Eugenie Bouchard (Team Peace) def. Leylah Fernandez (Team Kindness) 6-4, 6-3

Bouchard, a former Wimbledon finalist and proven veteran on tour, showed why she was the better and more experienced players here. Fernandez is actually the higher-ranked player here (118 vs 328) and it was the teenager that raced off to a great start. She went up 4-1 in the first set before Bouchard raced back with five straight games to take the first set, 6-4.

Five straights breaks of serve beginning at 1-all in the second set gave the match some tension before Bouchard was able to break Fernandez and finally hold her serve to get to 5-3. It took her 5 match points, but she got the job done and took the match.

(Team Peace and Team Kindness tied 6-6)

Match #6: Kenin/Mattek-Sands (C) (Team Peace) def. Keys (C)/Azarenka (Team Kindness) 6-2, 1-6 10-7

Kenin and Mattek-Sands were the ultimate doubles duo before the tennis lockdown in April. They had immense success in 4 previous events and looked to build on that momentum. In their way was arguably their toughest challenge yet: Keys and Azarenka, two heavyweight singles players.

Kenin and Mattek-Sands raced out to a 6-1 first set win, proving why Mattek-Sands was so high on the major champion despite having an inferior roster on paper to Keys’ team. After a rough second set and a shaky 3rd-set start, the Team Peace duo regained their footing and ultimately took the match.

(Team Peace leads 8-6)

Day 4 lookahead

Ajla Tomljanovic and Monica Puig were set to play last night but with 6 other matches taking place, their match was moved to today. Today will also be the last day of two-point matches. It’ll be key to see who gets the advantage heading into the last two days of the tournament.

Despite Team Peace’s inferior roster on paper, they’ve put together clutch performances, specifically Kenin and Mattek-Sands. They’ve contributed half of their team’s points so far in the tournament. We’ll see how their teammates perform on Day 4.