Lobsters Opening Match A Thriller
July 13, 2015 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Boston Lobsters News Release
Boston Lobsters in Action
(Boston Lobsters)
On a beautiful opening night at the Manchester Athletic Club, the Boston Lobsters dropped a hard fought match to the 4-time defending champion Washington Kastles (20-17).
The Lobsters opened up their 2015 season with a tough mixed doubles loss, as Scott Lipsky and Arantxa Parra Santonja teamed up against a Kastles team of Rajeev Ram and Anastasia Rodionova. The Kastles broke serve early and jumped to a 3-1 lead to start the match. The big serving Lipsky kept the Lobsters in the contest as they battled back to one game deficit at 3-4, however the Kastles' Rodionova came in clutch to close out the set 5-3 with a strong service game.
In women's doubles, the Lobsters were edged by a score of 5-2, as the Kastles took a commanding 10-5 match lead. The Kastles were able to break Parra Santonja's serve at 3-2 after a few winning returns from both Brengle and Rodionova.
Subbing in for an injured Chase Buchanan, newcomer Alex Kuznetsov earned an early break as he took a controlling 3-0 lead to start the match. Kuznestov rolled in the next two games, using his strong forehand and net game to cruise to a 5-0 victory over a very solid opponent in Denis Kudla, equalizing the match score at 10-10.
In women's singles, fan favorite Irina Falconi and opponent Madison Brengle traded service breaks twice to begin the penultimate set of the contest. The match remained close until Brengle was able to pull away, breaking Falconi's serve at 4-3 for a 5-3 victory.
The final set began with a strong showing from both Lipsky and Kuznetsov of the Lobsters, highlighted by a backhand return winner from Kuznetsov to break the big serving Rajeev Ram and give the Lobsters an overall 16-15 advantage. The Kastles stormed back, however, breaking Lipsky's serve and eventually tying the set up 4-4 to set up a match tiebreaker. After a few lengthy exchanges between the two teams at net, the Kastles were able to take the tiebreaker and the match, punctuated by a Rajeev Ram overhead slam.
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 Boston Lobsters in Action |
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