Everyone stood for the national anthem of the country that they were citizens of. The top ranked vocalists in the royal conservatory did the honors. A female alpha sung a stirring rendition of the Filjon anthem. A male alpha sung the anthem of Breaca with passion. From there, the chair umpire and the line judges took their places. The first rubber was Ronan's like always. He was facing off against an alpha male ranked 52 in the world. He was still no match for Ronan. Ronan took a commanding lead in the tie with the first rubber. 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 was the final tally. It was basically a blow out. This venue was an amphitheater. It was build with acoustics in mind. Every grunt and bounce of the ball echoed to the very top row of the seats. It really put the people in the frame of mind that they were courtside with them. The camera crews were right before the front row. Ronan had did his part. He was a big member of the Breaca national tennis team and he won his way to the finals. No one could take it all from him anymore. He laid it all out on their court. Anna was really proud of him.
Getting this far could only have done if they had believed in her and did the work on their own. Taking the lead got everyone from Breaca excited. It did not last long. The team they were facing was solid. Filjon were not the defending champions, but they had won the Burke Cup several times. The other 3 alphas on our side continued their average play. That was not good enough for this stage. They all got defeated. That had us losing 3-1. There was a pall in the arena from the native Breacans. We had gotten so far as a country. It would be so heartbreaking to lose 5-1 at this point. Especially when the 1 win came from an omega. Luckily, we did not need to fear. It was a very good showing from the other Idut brothers. This was an absolute clinic of doubles tennis. Reid and Rhys went first. 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 was the end result. Evan was a nice guy, but he was holding Reilly back in their match. It was to be expected at this point with their power imbalance. The result was 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. They had dropped a set, but it was fine. They won. That brought the score up to 3-3. Great.
Very clearly, we would need a final rubber as a tie-breaker to decide the Burke Cup. The King got up and walked to the head of the committee. He paled, but nodded. As soon as the king left him, he scrambled over to the team captain. The team captain looked very upset. It was when the chairman pointed to the royal box that he backed down. Anna knew that the king was calling the shots here. It was probably inappropriate, but no one was going to call him on it. The team captain had to meet with the captain of the other team. After a couple minutes, they came to an agreement. It was then announced. "Ladies and gentlemen. The tie-breaker rubber will be a doubles match." the master of ceremony said. Reilly was tapped for this massive honor. This was most likely at the king's request. The team captain wanted to insert himself in a tie-breaker like this for his own glory. The team captain of the other side and another alpha in singles would team up for the match. That did not work out for them. Reilly carried the captain. 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 was the result. We won in the finals.
