The FTL Cup Group Stage is now complete. Did you qualify?
Its a Double Sunshine Double Double. Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner both managed to repear their Indian Wells success and complete the feat of winning both the Sunshine Double Events (Indian Wells and Miami) back to back.
This has happened a few times before. Djokovic and Azarenka in 2016. Federer and Clijsters in 2005 and Sampras and Graf in 1994.
Sabalenka is the dominant player in women's tennis right now with Rybakina her closest rival. Perhaps it was unfortunate that Rybakina was seeded to be a semi final opponent this time so there was no repeat of the Indian Wells final between the two. This time Sabalenka was to win their match more comfortably and progressed to the final against a resurgent Coco Gauff whose injury concerns following her withdrawal from Indian Wells proved to be nothing to worry about.
Coco did manage to push Aryna in the final by recording the first set Aryna dropped in the whole week but ultimately Aryna pulled through for a deserved title.
In the men's event Sinner is playing catch up to No 1 Alcaraz on the ranking front but having gained 1000 points in Indian Wells, he repeated the feat in Miami. Following his surprise loss to Medvedev in Indian Wells, it was even more of a surprise to see Carlos lose to an inspired Sebastian Korda in Miami. Unfortunately Korda couldn't take advantage of that victory by progressing further. Rather the surprise packages of the week provided to be Jiri Lehecka and Arther Fils who set up a semi final against each other which Lehecka dominated. He would, however, be no match for Sinner in the final.
Here are the final game week standings for Miami.
Both Carlito and Sindre captained and KPed the eventual tournament champs Sinner and Sabalenka which was the key to a great score this week. Both made an excellent ATP Dark Horse pick with eventual semi finalist Fils and Sinder was one of a few managers that entrusted the impressive Talia Gibson with a DH pick after her impressive run in Indian Wells.
Carlito also had three WTA Quarter Finalists in Mboko, Pegula and Bencic and also an ATP Quarter Finalist in Tommy Paul. Korda also chipped in with 45 points which included that remarkable win over Alcaraz.
Sindre had semi finalist Muchova and WTA Quarter Finalists Pegula and Bencic with a poor show from Shelton perhaps costing him top spot.
Sindre takes the level 2 prize for Game Week 7!
Carlito also had three WTA quarter finalists in Pegula, Mboko and Bencic
The Linz draw is now available and has been loaded onto the system so you should see all your green dots.
Keep a watch out for late withdrawals, particulary players like Tiafoe who may not make the trip.
Lockout is in less than 2 hours with Norrie v Kecmanovic the scheduled first match in Monte Carlo
Remember to pick your dark horses.
Good luck everyone!
I have attached the MonteCarlo Draws (FTL Version) and Dark Horse Breakdown. Please note that the Qualifying will not be completed until tomorrow (April 5th), so as a result, the Qualifiers and Lucky Losers have not been placed. Sadly, there are Main Draw matches that will be played tomorrow before the Qualifying has been completed.
Plz note that the Main Draw for the Womens event in Linz will not be available until tomorrow as well. The hope is that it will be available before the first ball is played in MonteCarlo, but sadly, there are no guarantees. So you have been warned that there is a legit possibility that you could be setting your lineup and while doing so being blind to the womens portion of the GW.
Do not forget to select your Dark Horse for both the Mens Event in MonteCarlo.
If you want a copy, click on the link, GameWeek 9 Draws Once you do so, click on FILE, and scroll to MAKE A COPY, and call it whatever you want
Here is the schedule for the knockout stages of the FTL Cup. There are a few tricky weeks in there (by design) so expect some cup chaos in those weeks ;)
The final group stage matches will take place next week (Game Week 8). Most teams should still be in a position to qualify for the knockout stages so its all to play for. Make sure you know your cup opponent and check their team out on the app. Of course you won't know in advance what trades they will be making for Game Week 8 so there is still plenty of jeopardy!
As a reminder, the best 32 placed group winners will get a bye to the 2nd knockout round. The other 13 group winners will join the 45 second placed teams and 6 lucky losers in the 1st knockout round.
The current standings and remaining fixtures can all be viewed on this link
GAME WEEK 6 SUMMARY — INDIAN WELLS DELIVERS INJURIES, UPSETS, REVENGE, AND A DOUBLE FIRST‑TIME CHAMPION WEEK
WTA — Sabalenka’s Desert Redemption & a Quarter of Pure Chaos
Indian Wells has a habit of blowing up the draw, and this year it targeted the Coco Gauff quarter with surgical precision.
Coco Gauff’s Rollercoaster Continues
Gauff arrived with a favourable path and a chance to stabilise her uneven 2026 season. Instead, she ran into a completely transformed Alexandra Eala, who played with the kind of fearless aggression Coco had easily handled in Dubai.
A nagging arm injury forced Gauff to retire a set and a break down — a brutal twist for fantasy managers who had banked on a deep run.
Noskova Seizes the Opportunity
With the quarter suddenly wide open, Linda Noskova pounced.
She took out Eala, then ended the fairytale run of Talia Gibson, the Australian qualifier who had somehow taken out three seeds and briefly became the unofficial mascot of the “Who on earth picked her?” fantasy category.
Noskova’s reward: a semi‑final with Aryna Sabalenka.
Andreeva Meltdown & Siniakova’s Miracle
Elsewhere, Mirra Andreeva suffered one of the strangest losses of the week.
Facing an injured Katerina Siniakova, she failed to close out the match, lost in three, and then unleashed a spectacular fury at her team and the crowd.
Siniakova, however, paid the price — she couldn’t continue in her next match and retired against Elina Svitolina.
Svitolina Stuns Swiatek
That retirement set up a blockbuster quarter‑final: Svitolina vs. Iga Swiatek.
And in one of the shocks of the tournament, Svitolina out‑foxed the former world No. 1, handing Swiatek another painful early exit in a season that’s starting to feel… unsettled.
The Other Quarter-Finals
The Semi-Finals
The Final — A Rivalry Cemented
A rematch of the Australian Open final.
A showdown between the world No. 1 and the newly crowned world No. 2.
A rivalry that now defines the WTA.
And once again, they delivered a classic — a match that could have gone either way, decided only by a knife‑edge third‑set tiebreak.
Aryna Sabalenka finally lifted her first Indian Wells title, avenging her Melbourne defeat and extending her absurdly good tiebreak record.
The desert belongs to her now.
ATP — Sinner’s First Desert Crown & Medvedev’s Great Escape
Indian Wells looked destined to give us the final everyone expected: Sinner vs. Alcaraz, the rivalry shaping the era.
But Daniil Medvedev had other plans — and a wild travel story.
Medvedev’s Journey Begins in… Oman?
After being stranded in the Middle East due to escalating conflict, Medvedev managed to escape Dubai via Oman, arriving in the U.S. with the energy of a man who had already survived a boss fight before the tournament even began.
Quarter-Final Chaos
The Semi-Finals
The Final — A Double Tiebreak Knife Fight
Medvedev pushed Sinner to the absolute limit.
Two tiebreaks.
Two sets where Medvedev had real chances.
Two sets where Sinner’s ice‑cold precision made the difference.
Jannik Sinner won 7–6, 7–6 to claim his first Indian Wells title — a tournament he has openly admitted to struggling with in the past.
Now?
He looks unbeatable on any surface, anywhere.
Fantasy Dark Horses Shine
Here are the Global League standings for the game week.
As the budgets available to FTL managers continue to grow, we are starting to see most of the top teams fielding very strong sides. Most of them were able to field at least 3 of the four finalists - (Sinner, Medvedev, Sabalenka and Rybakina) while nearly everyone has Alcaraz.
As a consequence it was an extremely competitive week so major kudos to our top four Pieter-Jan, Vlad, Mikhail and Michael who were the top of the tree in the game week leaderboard.
In the end of was Pieter-Jan and Charly Cheatcode who took the game week by just 6 points from Vlad's "Possssors of Glory". Congrats to both on a great contest which really went right down to the wire.
Here is the head to head between the two.
Crucially Charly Cheatcode had Sinner as their Captain and that proved to be the most significant tipping point between these two teams. Both teams had Sinner, Alcaraz, Medvedev and Rybakina and also Fonseca with Vlad being bold enough to include him as a main team player while Pieter- Jan had him as a dark horse. Vlad also had decent returns from Cirstea, Pegula and dark horse Kartal while Pieter-Jan had decent returns from Swiatek and Draper.
The game week win as elevated Charly Cheatcode to the top of the season standings as well.
A lot of new names at the top of the leaderboard this year but also a few familiar FTL teams featured in the shape of Sagar, Mikhail, Sindre and Olga!
The season is still in its infancy though so don't worry if you've fallen a little behind in the early stages. There is plenty of time to make up the deficit.
If we look at the performance of last years top teams, you can see how unpredictable FTL can be and that's been particularly true of this season.
Our Champions from last year Nadal's Forehand (Dragan) is currently 81st in the standings.
2nd placed nbladeweilder (Nikhil) is currently 126th!
3rd place broccoli (Alex) is currently 103rd.
So you get the general idea!
Everything can and probably will change over the next 26 or so game weeks!
I have attached the Miami Draws (FTL Version) and Dark Horse Breakdown. Please note that the Qualifying will not be completed until Tuesday March 17th, so as a result, the Qualifiers and Lucky Losers have not been placed. Sadly, there are 10 Main Draw matches in the Womens event that are also set to be take place on Tuesday as well, so most of the Qualifying won't be completed by the time that the lockout commences.
Do not forget to select your Dark Horse for both the Mens and Womens events.
If you want a copy, click on the link, Miami Draws Once you do so, click on FILE, and scroll to MAKE A COPY, and call it whatever you want
