WTT Washington Kastles

Kastles Wimbledon Preview: Anastasia Wins Aegon International Title

Published on June 26, 2016 under World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


The Championships, Wimbledon get underway tomorrow, as all seven of the Kastles players enter the main draws looking to end their grass season on a high note. The Bryan Brothers, Martina Hingis, Leander Paes, and Anastasia Rodionova are looking to make runs in their respective doubles draws. Meanwhile, Madison Brengle and Sam Querrey, both of whom reached the semifinals of the Ricoh Open in the Netherlands two weeks ago, are competing in the Gentlemen's and Ladies' singles draws and doubles draws, hoping to build on their strong grass court results at the All-England Lawn and Tennis Club. Check out a full Wimbledon Preview for each Kastle below!

The three-time Wimbledon Champions return to the All-England Lawn and Tennis Club in pursuit of their fourth Gentlemen's Doubles Title. Seeded second in the Gentlemen's Doubles draw, the brothers will face Inigo Cervantes and Paolo Lorenzi in the first round. The Bryans will look for their speed and experience to carry them through their first two matches. Things get interesting in the third round, where they could face familiar foe Radek Stepanek and Nenad Zimonjic. Stepanek famously denied the Brothers the chance at a year-long Grand Slam in 2013 when he and Kastles Captain Leander Paes defeated the Brothers in the semifinals of the US Open. Later in the week, the Bryans could face the fifth ranked team of Ivan Dodig and and former world No. 1 doubles player Marcelo Melo. The last time the teams met on grass was in 2013 at the Queens Club, where the Bryans prevailed in three sets. Also lurking in the Bryans half of the draw is British favorite Jamie Murray. Murray and his partner Bruno Soares will enjoy some home court advantage should the teams advance to face each other in the semifinals.

Seeded first in the Ladies' Doubles draw, Martina will be looking to add to her Hall of Fame career with another title at the Championships. Martina and Sania Mirza won the title last year while only dropping one set. As the defending champions, the duo receive a relatively friendly draw as they don't face a ranked opponent until the third round (depending on results). The team that knocked them out of the French Open, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Saniakova, are unseeded and in the bottom half of the draw. An interesting potential match-up could be in the quarterfinals with Kastles teammate Anastasia Rodionova and Darija Jurak, who defeated Hingis and Mirza in the Aegon Championships last week. In addition to ladies' doubles, Martina will continue her legendary partnership with Leander Paes in the Mixed Doubles draw. The duo completed the Career Grand Slam in Mixed Doubles earlier this year at the French Open and are the defending Mixed Doubles Champions at Wimbledon.

The Kastles Captain will look to build on his quarterfinal appearance at Roland Garros with partner Marcin Matkowski. Though unseeded, the experience and speed of Paes make him and Matkowski a threat to emerge out of the top half of the draw. A potential match-up with countryman and Olympic partner Rohan Bopanna is an intriguing possibility for the third round. First though, Paes and Matkowski would have to get past first round opponents Yen-Hsun Lu and Janko Tipsarevic, as well as the tenth seeded team of Henri Kontinen and John Peers. If the duo can make it out of the first few rounds, the top seeded Nicolas Mahout and Pierre Huhghes-Herbert will most likely be waiting for them in the quarterfinals. Peas won the Gentlemen's Doubles Title at Wimbledon in 1999 with former partner Mahesh Bhupathi. In addition to Men's Doubles, Leander will continue his legendary partnership with Martina Hingis in the Mixed Doubles Draw.

Sam is seeded 28th in the Gentlemen's Singles draw, which is his highest seeding at Wimbledon since being seeded 21st in 2013. Grass courts are ideal for Sam's game, as his big serves and booming forehand play well on the slick turf, making him a threat against any player. His best result at a major came at Wimbledon in 2010 when he reached the fourth round. This year, Sam opens his Wimbledon campaign against Lukas Rosol, who famously upset Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon in the second round in 2012. Despite that monumental win, Rosol's best results have come on the slower clay courts. Sam will be looking to use his power in this match, which will be his first meeting against Rosol. If Sam makes the third round, he will most likely have a huge challenge in the form of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Sam is also teaming up with Steve Johnson of the Orange County Breakers in the Gentlemen's Doubles draw. Sam and Johnson teamed up to win the doubles title in Genevea earlier this year and reached the US Open semifinals last September. The duo face Radek Stepanek and Nenad Zimonjic in the first round and could potentially face the Bryan Brothers in the third.

Madison has put together a string of successful results this grass season. She reached the semifinals of the Ricoh open in the Netherlands followed by a third round appearance in Eastbourne, which included a victory over world No. 23 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Though unseeded, Madison has moved up in the WTA rankings to No. 62 and is playing her best tennis going into Wimbledon. This is Madison's second appearance in the main draw at Wimbledon. In the first round, Madison faces Kurumi Nara of Japan. Madison is 1-2 against Nara but won their last meeting last year in Hobart, Australia. This will be their first match on a grass court. If she advances, Madison could face No. 25 Irinia Begu in the second round. Also lurking in her part of the draw is No. 4. Angelique Kerber. Madison is also once again teaming up with Tatjana Maria in the Ladies Doubles draw. The duo will be looking to build on their impressive run to the third round at Roland Garros.

Anastasia and partner Darija Jurak (of the San Diego Aviators) are coming into Wimbledon with a lot of momentum having won the Aegon International doubles title on grass in Eastbourne yesterday. On their title run, the duo defeated the world No. 1 doubles team in Kastle Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, and won a very close match in the final against the No. 4 team of Yung-Jun Chan and Hao Ching-Chan. This momentum should help the duo, as they face a tough first round match against ninth seeded Yifan Xu and Saisai Zheng. If Anastasia and Darija pull off the upset, their second round match would be against an unranked opponent. With Anastasia having reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon three times before in 2002, 2011 and 2014, she and Darija are definitely a dark horse threat to get out their quarter of the draw and set up a meeting with Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the quarterfinals.

Embarking on a run that included wins over two of the top doubles teams in the world, Anastasia Rodionova and partner Darija Jurak (of the San Diego Aviators) won the doubles title at the Aegon International in Eastbourne on Saturday morning. The duo started off the week with a decisive 6-3, 6-3 victory over Anastasia's Kastles teammate Martina Hingis and her partner Sania Mirza in the second round. Hingis and Mirza have held the No. 1 ranking in the WTA Doubles rankings for almost a year now, making Anastasia and Jurak's win even more impressive. The duo continued their strong play into the final, where they faced another test in the No. 4 ranked team of Taiwanese sisters Yung-Jun Chan and Hao-Ching Chan. Anastasia and Jurak were forced to grind to overcome a one-set deficit. After losing the first set 7-5, the duo pulled off several clutch points to win the second set tiebreaker 7-4. In the decisive match tiebreaker, the duo again came up with some big points, winning 10-6 to take the trophy. The victory gives Anastasia an impressive ten WTA Doubles titles and is her first grass court title since 2010.

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World TeamTennis Stories from June 26, 2016


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