WTT Washington Kastles

Kastles Beat Freedoms 22-18, Now 4-0 in Conference

July 17, 2013 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


The Washington Kastles won't complete a third consecutive perfect season, but they're still undefeated in one important category.

The two-time defending Mylan WTT champions improved to 4-0 in the Eastern Conference and 5-2 overall on Tuesday, defeating the 1-6 Philadelphia Freedoms 22-18.

Halfway through the regular season, Washington maintains a one-match lead over the New York Sportimes in the conference standings. The team that finishes the regular season in first place of the Eastern Conference will host the Eastern Conference Championship match on Thursday, July 25.

With the way the Kastles are clicking away from home, it may not matter where potential playoff matches are held.

Washington capped a 3-0 road trip with a win in Philadelphia, jumping out to a 5-1 advantage in just 18 minutes after Leander Paes and Martina Hingis routed Sam Groth and Liezel Huber in mixed doubles.

Though the Freedoms won the second set of women's doubles, Hingis and Bobby Reynolds picked up singles victories to extend Washington's lead to 18-12 going into the final set.

Groth and Jordan Kerr of the Freedoms won men's doubles 5-3 to force overtime, though the Kastles still led 21-17 following five sets.

After Groth held serve to start overtime, the Kastles closer Reynolds held to end it.

Washington returns home to Kastles Stadium at The Wharf tonight for a rematch with the Springfield Lasers. Last Thursday, the Lasers handed the Kastles their first loss in 17 matches on the Southwest Waterfront.

Tickets to the final four Kastles home matches -- all featuring Hingis -- are going very fast. Just a few seats starting at $15 remain on Ticketmaster.com.

MXD - L. Paes/M. Hingis (WAS) def. S. Groth/L. Huber (PHL) 5-1

Mixed doubles pitted the league's top team against its top individual player. Groth entered No. 1 in WTT's mixed doubles rankings, but it was Paes and Hingis who improved to 4-0 with a dominating performance.

The Kastles won 12 of 16 points on their own serves, never facing a break point in the set.

Despite Groth's world-record serve, which topped out at 163 miles per hour in 2012, both he and Huber were broken. The Kastles claimed Huber's serve at love to take a 2-1 lead, then two games later they won a deciding 3-all point to break Groth.

Paes served out the set after only 18 minutes, helping Washington race in front of Philadelphia from the start.

SCORE: Washington 5, Philadelphia 1

WD - V. Duval/L. Huber (PHL) def. M. Hingis/A. Rodionova (WAS) 5-3

It was women's doubles that solidified Washington's win in Boston on Monday, but Hingis and Anastasia Rodionova could not play to the same level indoors in Philadelphia.

Rodionova started well enough, holding at love with two aces in the first game. But after Huber held, Hingis did not, broken on a 3-all point when Victoria Duval brushed a lob winner.

The Kastles broke back when the 17-year-old Duval double-faulted on a break point in the next game.

But Hingis was broken again at 3-3, 3-all, when Duval handled a sharp-angled volley from the Swiss and punished a backhand into her body to draw the error.

One game later, Duval sealed the set for Philadelphia by saving three break points, with Huber clinching a 5-3 victory by poaching for a volley winner off a Rodionova return.

Hingis and Rodionova went 1-for-4 on deciding 3-all points and 1-for-7 on break points overall against Duval and Huber, who picked up their first win in four sets together this season.

SCORE: Washington 8, Philadelphia 6

MS - B. Reynolds (WAS) def. S. Groth (PHL) 5-4

Facing the world's biggest serve indoors was always going to be an uphill battle for Reynolds.

But the Kastles closer dug himself an even bigger hole by double-faulting twice in his first service game. Groth capitalized and broke for a quick 2-0 lead in the set, tying the overall score at 8-8.

The next two games proved crucial, with each being decided on a 3-all point. What could have been a 10-8 deficit for Washington, instead was a 10-8 lead after Reynolds won both of those critical points to even the set at 2-2.

After changing sides of the court, each man held serve twice to force a men's singles tiebreaker, with Reynolds winning most of the extended rallies, but Groth compiling seven aces in all.

Both Reynolds and Groth broke the other's serve three times in a topsy-turvy tiebreaker, with the ball on Reynolds' racquet at 4-4. The winner of the next point would clinch the set.

Reynolds directed his final serve hard to Groth's forehand and the Freedom misfired his return long, clinching the Kastles closer's third straight singles win in a tiebreaker.

SCORE: Washington 13, Philadelphia 10

WS - M. Hingis (WAS) def. V. Duval (PHL) 5-2

When Hingis was Duval's age, she was the No. 1 player in the world. So nothing that the American teen had in her repertoire could possibly surprise her.

Duval battled impressively using the combination of pace, angles and variety that Hingis has mastered. But, in the end, Hingis proved to be superior in that craft.

The Swiss star streaked to a 3-0 lead after winning a pair of 3-all deciding points, including one on Duval's serve after the Freedom led 3-0 in the game.

Though Duval did well to hold in her final two service games, she failed to break Hingis' serve, falling 5-2.

Hingis is now 4-0 in singles sets and 20-8 in games this season.

SCORE: Washington 18, Philadelphia 12

MD - S. Groth/J. Kerr (PHL) def. L. Paes/B. Reynolds (WAS) 5-3 OT - L. Paes/B. Reynolds (WAS) 1, S. Groth/J. Kerr (PHL) 1

Freedoms coach Josh Cohen made the curious decision to schedule men's doubles as the final set, giving the Kastles closer Reynolds an opportunity to do what he does best.

As it turned out, Cohen may have been on to something.

Groth and Jordan Kerr won the set 5-3 when Kerr blasted a down-the-line backhand return winner to break Paes on a 3-all point.

Despite their third loss of the season, Paes and Reynolds still enjoyed a four-game lead going into overtime.

That was more than enough for Reynolds to close out Washington's third straight victory on the Kastles' first service game of overtime.

SCORE: Washington 22, Philadelphia 18

Washington Kastles vs. Springfield Lasers Preview

Kastles Out to Avenge Rare Home Loss Against Lasers

Washington Kastles (5-2) vs. Springfield Lasers (4-2) Wednesday, July 17 at 7:00 pm Tickets: Ticketmaster.com (Very limited availability)

All-Time: Kastles lead Lasers 6-2 Last Meeting: Lasers def. Kastles 22-15 on July 11, 2013 (Washington, DC) Live Scoring: WashingtonKastles.com Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (#RefuseToLose)

Returning home following a 3-0 road trip, the 5-2 Kastles have a chance to avenge not one, but both of their losses from earlier this season.

On Friday, they get another crack at the Texas Wild, who ended Washington's major U.S. pro sports record 34-match winning streak on July 10.

But first things first, Washington hosts Springfield tonight just six days after the Lasers dealt the Kastles their first loss in 17 matches at Kastles Stadium at The Wharf.

Neither team is quite the same as the two that squared off on July 11. Andy Roddick is out of the Lasers' lineup, as is his opponent in singles that night, Kevin Anderson.

Most notably, Martina Hingis returns for Washington following her Hall-of-Fame hiatus. That spells trouble for Vania King and Alisa Kleybanova of Springfield, who outscored the Kastles 15-6 in their three sets last Thursday.

As of this writing, less than 50 tickets to tonight's match remain on Ticketmaster.com, so do not wait any longer to secure your seats.

If you can't make it to the Southwest Waterfront, live scoring for tonight's match will be available at WashingtonKastles.com. And be sure to join the conversation throughout the evening on Facebook and Twitter.

SET-BY-SET PROJECTIONS

MS - B. Reynolds (WAS) vs. R. De Voest (SPR) You would think that Roddick's absence from the Lasers' lineup would hurt Springfield's chances. But Rik De Voest is actually 5-0 on tour and 1-0 in WTT play against Kastles closer Bobby Reynolds. Perhaps tonight will be the night that Reynolds turns the tide against the South African. Reynolds is celebrating his 31st birthday today, and with a capacity Kastles crowd supporting him, he should be primed for a win.

WS - M. Hingis (WAS) vs. V. King (SPR) Hingis and King have played WTT each of the last three seasons, in addition to their time on tour together. Yet, tonight marks the first meeting between the two women, who play a very similar style. Both the 5-foot-7 Hingis and 5-foot-5 King use clever angles and spins to open the court and work their way to the net. But their results this season have been quite different. Hingis has a 4-0 record, while King is 3-4.

MD - L. Paes/B. Reynolds (WAS) vs. R. De Voest/J. Rojer (SPR) Last week, Rojer emerged as the best player on the court in men's doubles. Facing two set points in a tiebreaker, he blasted back-to-back aces to clinch victory for the Lasers. But that was with Roddick, who played Springfield's first six matches. In their only set of the season together, Rojer and De Voest earned a 5-4 win over Texas on Monday. Reynolds and Leander Paes, meanwhile, are 4-3 thus far in 2013.

WD - M. Hingis/A. Rodionova (WAS) vs. V. King/A. Kleybanova (SPR) King and Kleybanova are far-and-away the highest-rated women's doubles team in Mylan WTT right now. The Lasers' ladies are 6-1 in sets and 33-13 in games, including a 5-0 shutout of Anastasia Rodionova and Alla Kudryavtseva last Thursday that effectively ended the Kastles' hopes of victory. Hingis' impact on Rodionova and the rest of the Kastles roster will never be more clearly defined than in this set, on this night.

MXD - L. Paes/M. Hingis (WAS) vs. J. Rojer/A. Kleybanova (SPR) Like its women's doubles team, Springfield's mixed doubles duet is on fire. Rojer and Kleybanova have won five straight sets, highlighted by a 5-3 victory over Rodionova and Paes on July 11. But Hingis and Paes are a different animal entirely. With 23 Grand Slam doubles titles between them, Hingis and Paes are 4-0 in 2013. Last night in Philadelphia, their 5-1 first-set win proved to be the difference.

KEY FOR THE KASTLES - TAKE BACK DOUBLES

For years, the Kastles have been the model franchise for doubles play in Mylan WTT.

Besides Paes and Hingis, Grand Slam doubles champions such as Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Rennae Stubbs and Victoria Azarenka have graced the court for the Kastles.

But this season, Washington's 2-on-2 supremacy is being challenged by Springfield. The Lasers rank among the Top 3-rated teams in men's, women's and mixed doubles, with King and Kleybanova No. 1 in the women's doubles rankings.

It doesn't take a mathematician to deduce that doubles makes up 60% of all WTT matches. We'll take the calculations one step further.

If the Kastles win two out of the three doubles sets tonight, they will be victorious. If they don't, the numbers simply aren't in their favor.



World TeamTennis Stories from July 17, 2013


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