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WTT Washington Kastles

Kastles Fall 23-18 at NY Sportimes; Final Playoff Push with Azarenka, McEnroe and Anna K. in DC Next

July 16, 2010 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


Battling hard all night, the Washington Kastles ended up falling to the New York Sportimes 23-18 in a match between two teams who had been tied for the Eastern Conference lead. Looking to get revenge for a season opening loss to the Sportimes in New York on July 5, the Kastles were once again without Serena Williams for a match that she was scheduled to play before she injured her foot. The team pulled together and held a slim lead after two sets by winning back-to-back tiebreakers. But they failed to hold on and saw their record fall to 6-4, putting them a game behind the Sportimes, who moved to 7-3.

In the first two sets, the Kastles showed resiliency, each time coming back from large deficits. The night started with men's doubles and the Kastles' Leander Paes and Bobby Reynolds again showed why no lead is safe against them as they came back from an early break and 4-2 down to take the set 5-4 in a tiebreak against Robert Kendrick and Jesse Witten.

Next up in the women's doubles, Rennae Stubbs and Angie Haynes showed some amazing resolve of their own after quickly finding themselves down set point at 0-4 and 3-all against Ashley Harkleroad and Abigail Spears. Responding to enthusiastic bench support, Stubbs and Haynes miraculously came all the way back to tie the set. In the tiebreak, the Kastles proved to be the more aggressive team, with Angie pulling off her second topspin lob winner of the set and a superb volley winner to go up 4-2. Stubbs then clinched the set with a great down-the-line return, forcing Spears to hit a volley into the net. It was a huge swing and the momentum seemed to be in the Kastles favor now with a 10-8 lead.

In men's singles, Reynolds took on the hard-hitting Witten in a riveting singles set characterized by long blistering groundstroke rallies. This was a rematch of the match-up that decided the last meeting between these two teams in a Supertiebreaker won by Witten after Reynolds drew the Kastles even from a 3 game deficit entering the last set.

Reynolds went up 2-1 after Witten earned two code violations and a point penalty for racquet abuse and for directing profanity at the umpire. The umpire then mistakenly awarded Reynolds an extra point but Reynolds showed great sportsmanship by correcting the umpire's mistake and then made the issue moot by winning the next point and the game.

Reynolds then extended his lead to 3-1 after capitalizing on a big first serve to win a key 3-all point which gave the Kastles a 4 game lead at 13-9. But Witten then stormed back using his trademark go-for-broke style, winning the next four games to take the set and tie the overall match at 13-13 at halftime.

Leander Paes returned to the court with Stubbs against Spears and Kendrick for the mixed doubles set. The match followed form as each player held serve. The Kastles took a 3-2 lead but squandered two crucial break points when Kendrick nailed an ace and Spears hit a volley winner on another key 3-all point to tie up the set at 3-3. The teams stayed even until the tiebreaker, where the Sportimes prevailed and took an overall 18-17 lead in the match.

It was up to Angie Haynes to win the last set against Spears, who holds the best women's singles record in WTT, and either win the match or force a Supertiebreaker. Spears started strong and broke Haynes' first service game to go up 2-0 but Haynes didn't give up. She started working the points and immediately broke back to 2-1 in the set. She served an ace to lead 3-2 in the next game but Spears won the next two points after long rallies and secure a 3-1 advantage. Spears continued to serve well and closed out the set 5-1 and the match 23-18 for the Sportimes.

The Kastles will look to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Sportimes on July 20 in Washington, when tennis legend John McEnroe joins the visiting squad. Emotions will surely be high as the teams return to the scene of last year's Eastern Conference tight final, won by the Kastles in Overtime, as well as the earlier "Rumble in the Capital" match from last year's regular season, when tempers flared, each team earned fines from the league and the highlights ended up on ESPN.

The Kastles next match will be at home on Sunday, July 18 at 7pm against the Boston Lobsters, when WTA star Victoria Azarenka makes her Kastles debut. Only a small number of tickets remain for the match.

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