Tennis Returns To MSG After Six Years With The Garden Cup

Tennis returns to MSG after six years with the Garden Cup

The world’s greatest sporting arena Madison Square Garden, hosted a men’s and women’s exhibition presented by Legends Team Cup. Each match consisted of three sets, the decider if needed, a 7-point tiebreak. To speed up proceedings, no-ad scoring was utilized, with the receiver choosing where to receive.

The Garden Cup, to the delight of the sold-out crowd, runneth over with power, variety, and frivolity. The women’s match featured two top-ten American stars: Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro.

Pegula ranked #7 and from Buffalo, New York had a stellar season defending her title at the WTA 1000 event in Toronto and reaching her first grand slam final at the US Open. Emma Navarro a native New Yorker, won her first career title in Hobart at the start of the season and cracked the top-ten at #8 following her remarkable run to the US Open semis. They met once on Tour at the Miami Open which Pegula won in straights.

Navarro won the toss and elected to serve. She faced triple break point and dumped serve following three unforced errors. Pegula made 4/7 first serves but gave back the break with a netted volley.

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Navarro crushed an ace out wide and ripped a backhand down the line to get on the board while Pegula missed 3/4 first serves to drop serve. Navarro faced break point with a netted forehand and dropped serve with another.

Pegula made 2/4 first serves and consolidated the break at love for 3-3. Navarro was near flawless on defense and it paid dividends as she held for 4-3 following deuce.

Pegula serving with new balls struck her first ace and held at love for parity while Navarro hit two winners including her second ace for a love hold. Pegula made it a trifecta with three consecutive winners and another love hold for 5-5.

A tiebreak appeared imminent as Navarro stepped to the line. Although she pummeled a forehand down the line, she dropped serve with her first double fault. Pegula served for the setup 6-5 but gave back the break with three costly errant forehands.

The crowd was all in as Navarro served first in the breaker. Navarro led 4-2 when they changed ends and reached set point at 6-4 but Pegula refused to capitulate. She leveled at 6-6 with a fantastic forehand down the line but two errors off that side cost her the set.

Pegula served first in the second and though she faced break point, employed the slice backhand, and drop shot to…