WTT Orange County Breakers

Impressive Lindsay Davenport Leads Newport Beach Breakers To First Home Win Of 2008

Published on July 11, 2008 under World TeamTennis (WTT)
Orange County Breakers News Release


NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., July 10, 2008 - Armed with their marquee star, Lindsay Davenport, the Newport Beach Breakers avenged their defeat to the Springfield Lasers three days earlier and ended their three-match losing streak with their first home victory of the season, 19-15 in overtime, at Breakers Stadium at Newport Beach Country Club.

In her first competitive match since Wimbledon, Laguna Beach resident Davenport played sets in women's doubles and mixed doubles in front of her husband, Jon Leach, her 13-month-old son, Jagger, and father-in-law Dick Leach, the former Breakers coach.

Davenport took the court for the first time, teaming with second-year Breakers player Michaela Pastikova in women's doubles, with the Breakers leading 12-10 after three sets. Davenport did not have an unforced error in the set. Her groundstrokes were crisp, clean and overpowering, and the pair won 20 of the 25 points in the set on the way to a 5-0 victory.

"That was a very clean set. That's what champions do, they put balls in play and they make you play," Breakers coach Trevor Kronemann said of Davenport. "She's like Jimmy Connors on the men's side. She hits the ball so clean. She rised to the occasion. Probably the best match we've played all season."

Added Pastikova: "It's the first time I had a chance to play with (Davenport) and it was amazing. We played good doubles. She was No. 1 and I can understand with the way she hits the ball."

The match's final set featured the all-Orange County mixed doubles pairing of Davenport and Newport Beach resident Kaes Van't Hof. The duo closed out the match in overtime on Davenport's serve.

The former World No. 1 and 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist, Davenport has won more prize money than any pro female athlete ($22,084,868 on the WTA Tour) and is one of only four women since 1975 to be the year-end World No. 1 at least four times. She owns three Grand Slam singles titles (1998 U.S. Open, 1999 Wimbledon and 2000 Australian Open), 55 WTA singles titles and 37 doubles titles.

Davenport, in her eighth WTT season and playing with the Breakers for the first time since 2003, will complete her service with the Breakers this season on Saturday at the reigning World TeamTennis champion Sacramento Capitals. The Breakers opened the season with a 21-16 overtime victory. Davenport helped Sacramento win their WTT-leading sixth championship last year. (more) 2-2-2 BREAKERS DROP 2008 WTT HOME OPENER TO KANSAS CITY, 20-18, IN OVERTIME

The Breakers (2-3) ran off the first six games of the match. For the first time this season, a Breakers match began with men's singles, which enabled Breakers veteran and crowd favorite Ramon Delgado to get his team off to a fast start. Delgado, who ranked second in WTT last year in games won percentage in men's singles (59%, 35-of-59 games won), cruised to a 5-0 victory over Izak Van der Merwe. Delgado has won all five of his singles sets this season by a 25-13 margin in games.

"It doesn't seem like anything has come too easy for us so I changed the side of our bench and I put Ramon first to get us off to a good start, and he did what he needed to do," Kronemann said. "We've got a good team. We can step our game up a level."

Pastikova took the court next and played singles before the home crowd for the first time this season. Chanelle Scheepers won the set, 5-4, in a tiebreak for Springfield (4-2), but Pastikova's four games won was instrumental in helping the Breakers maintain the lead.

Results: Men's Singles - Ramon Delgado (NB) def. Izak Van der Merwe (S), 5-0 Women's Singles - Chanelle Scheepers (S) def. Michaela Pastikova (NB), 5-4 (5-1 tiebreak) Men's Doubles - Glenn Weiner/Van der Merwe (S) def. Kaes Van't Hof/Delgado (NB), 5-3 Women's Doubles - Lindsay Davenport/Pastikova (NB) def. Shenay Perry/Scheepers (S), 5-0 Mixed Doubles - Perry/Weiner (S) def. Davenport/Van't Hof (NB), 5-1 Overtime - Davenport/Van't Hof (NB) def. Perry/Weiner (S), 1-0 Final: Newport Beach Breakers 19, Springfield Lasers 15 (OT)

The Breakers return home on Sunday - Singles Night - against the Washington Kastles, led by 2008 Wimbledon singles finalist and doubles champion Serena Williams. Williams, a Compton, Calif. native, will play at Breakers Stadium at Newport Beach Country Club for the only time this season on Sunday. Williams has won eight Grand Slam singles titles and is ranked No. 5 in the world.

Tickets, sponsorship and more information on the Newport Beach Breakers are readily available by calling 714-352-6301 or visiting www.NewportBeachBreakers.com, where fans can purchase tickets and choose their own seats from an online seating chart that takes real-time inventory. A Singles Night Package for Sunday's match vs. Washington is available for $45 (includes one free drink coupon, pre-match singles mingling and a special singles seating area). Individual general admission match tickets range from $15-$45. Also available is the Lefty Legends Package, for matches July 21 vs. Boston and July 22 vs. New York, for $70.

The Breakers are owned by WTT founder Billie Jean King. Hoag Hospital Foundation has been granted the rights to manage the Breakers through 2009 by WTT with profits from the team's operations for the season benefiting Hoag Hospital.

The World TeamTennis Pro League presented by Advanta is set to begin its 33rd season. Each WTT team is comprised of two men, two women and a coach. Team matches consist of five events - one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. The first team to reach five games wins each set. A nine-point tiebreaker is played if a set reaches four-all. One point is awarded for each game won. If necessary, overtime and a supertiebreaker are played to determine the outright winner of the match.

About Newport Beach Breakers The Newport Beach Breakers are one of 11 nationwide teams that make up World TeamTennis (WTT). Co-owned by WTT founder Billie Jean King, Hoag Hospital Foundation has been granted the rights to manage the Breakers through 2009 by the WTT, with profits from the team's operations for the season benefiting Hoag Hospital. Hoag's expert involvement with professional sports also extends to its organization of the PGA Champions Tour's Toshiba Classic held annually in March.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



World TeamTennis Stories from July 11, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central