WTT Washington Kastles

Kastles Win Extraordinary 3 of 5 Wimbledon Titles; Season Starts Tonight in Boston

July 12, 2015 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


Didn't make it to Wimbledon this year? The Kastles have you covered!

Over the next three weeks, three Wimbledon champions will shed their whites for reds as they lead the Kastles' quest for the King Trophy.

Washington's Martina Hingis, Leander Paes and Serena Williams all won titles on Centre Court over the weekend, finishing off a fantastic fortnight for the team. Overall, Kastles players went an extraordinary 38-12 in the five main draws at Wimbledon.

The Kastles' home opener is this Tuesday and tickets to see Hingis (July 26-27), Paes (July 14-29) and Williams (July 21) are selling quickly at Ticketmaster.com. Most matches will sell out, so don't miss an amazing opportunity to see the greatest tennis players in the world battling for Washington.

During a remarkable 24-hour stretch at Wimbledon, Hingis went from 16 to 18 Grand Slam championships, rallying for the women's doubles title with Sania Mirza before capturing the mixed doubles title with Paes.

Only two years earlier, Hingis was preparing for her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The Swiss showed Saturday and Sunday that she's not done writing her résumé just yet.

Hingis and Paes put on what a BBC commentator called "the most perfect exhibition of mixed doubles that you will ever see," routing No. 5 seeds Alexander Peya and Timea Babos 6-1, 6-1 in 40 minutes.

The Kastles dream team won 28 of 32 service points as both Hingis and Paes proved impenetrable at the net. Paes ended each set with a backhand winner, clinching his and Hingis' second Grand Slam title as team. Like they did at the Australian Open, Hingis and Paes won all 10 sets that they played at Wimbledon.

Paes' four Wimbledon mixed doubles titles have come with four different partners: Hingis in 2015, Cara Black in 2010, Martina Navratilova in 2003 and Lisa Raymond in 1999.

For Hingis, she becomes the first woman since Black in 2004 to win both the women's and mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon.

One day earlier, Hingis and Mirza defeated Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-5 in an instant classic between the top two women's doubles teams in the world.

The Russians took the early lead and were on serve at 4-5 in the second-set tiebreaker. But back-to-back down-the-line winners by Hingis and Mirza evened the match to the delight of a raucous crowd.

Again in the third set, Hingis and Mirza refused to lose. Even after Makarova and Vesnina saved six straight break points, the No. 1 seeds held their nerves and battled back from 2-5 down.

Mirza connected on a cross-court backhand winner to tie the final set at 5-5, and with light fading in London, officials called for the Centre Court roof to be closed.

After a 15-minute break, Hingis picked up where she left off, breaking Vesnina with an inside-out forehand return winner before serving the match out at love.

Nineteen years after winning her first Wimbledon women's doubles title, Hingis leapt into Mirza's arms a champion again.

Hingis and Paes have combined to win 34 Grand Slam titles, which is still two shy of the incomparable Serena Williams.

From 2-4 down, Williams won nine of the next 10 games to wrestle momentum away from Garbiñe Muguruza in the women's singles final.

With her 6-4, 6-4 victory, Williams completed a 'Serena Slam' -- sweeping singles titles at Wimbledon, the French Open, the Australian Open and last year's US Open. Should she defend her US Open championship later this summer, Williams will be the first singles player to win all four majors during a calendar year since Steffi Graf in 1988.

Kastles Open Season in Boston Tonight at 6 pm

Follow Live Scoring of the Match at WashingtonKastles.com

The Kastles' quest for a fifth consecutive Mylan WTT title kicks off in Boston tonight at 6 pm. Anastasia Rodionova leads the Kastles, Denis Kudla and Madison Brengle make their team debut, and Rajeev Ram substitutes for Wimbledon champion Leander Paes. Click here to track live scoring.



World TeamTennis Stories from July 12, 2015


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