Philadelphia Freedoms fans packed the Villanova University Pavilion to watch Donald Young and the Freedoms take on Former World No. 1 and US Open Champion Andy Roddick and the New York Empire Wednesday night.
In the first round of the night, Men’s Doubles partners Donald Young and Fabrice Martin got the Freedoms off to a strong start against the Empire’s Andy Roddick and Neal Skupski. Halfway through the set, Skupski was subbed out for Marcus Willis, who with Roddick, was able to come back and tie up the score. Ultimately, Young and Martin were able to close on Roddick and Willis with a (5-4 ) win for the Freedoms.
The Freedoms’ Naomi Broady faced the Empire’s Christina McHale at the start of Women’s Singles, but was substituted for Caroline Crawford shortly after falling down 0-3 to McHale. Crawford could not overcome the deficit, and lost to McHale 0-5.
Freedoms Mixed Double’s partners Martin and Broady faced Skupski and Maria Irigoyen in the third set of the night, emerging victorious with a 5-0 win despite a late substitution with McHale in for Irigoyen.
Despite the Freedom’s win in Mixed Doubles, they could not keep up the momentum in Women’s Doubles, and Broady and Crawford fell to Irigoyen and McHale 1-5.
In the final round of the night, it was a Marquee player showdown with Roddick versus Young in Men’s Singles. After a night of back-and-forth, Young managed to battle back for the Freedoms from an 11-14 deficit to a 16-16 tie and winning the set 5-2, sending the teams to a Mylan World TeamTennis Supertiebreaker.
The Freedoms emerged victorious with a 17-16 win over the New York Empire in a thrilling ending, with Young overtaking Roddick 7-3 in the Supertiebreaker.
New York takes on Orange County tonight at 7 p.m. at Forest Hills Stadium at The West Side Tennis Club.