Sports stats

WTT Orange County Breakers

Newport Beach Breakers Rally Falls Short In 18-16 WTT Overtime Defeat

July 22, 2008 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Orange County Breakers News Release


NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., July 21, 2008 - Almost no one will argue that Martina Navratilova isn't the best female player in the history of women's tennis. The 51-year-old legend did nothing to change the Newport Beach Breakers' thoughts on the subject, gracing Breakers Stadium at Newport Beach Country Club on behalf of the Boston Lobsters and winning the opening set in mixed doubles in Boston's 18-16 overtime victory over the Breakers.

The Breakers, which won the final three sets of regulation and came within two points of forcing a Supertiebreaker, began the second half of their 2008 World TeamTennis Pro League season with three victories in four matches and entered the WTT playoff picture. With two matches left in the regular season - Tuesday's 2008 WTT home finale at 7 p.m. against the John McEnroe-led New York Sportimes (broadcasted by the Tennis Channel) and Wednesday at Western Conference champion Kansas City - the Breakers must win out to have a chance at qualifying for this weekend's playoffs in Roseville, Calif.

"We're still in with a fighting chance," Breakers coach Trevor Kronemann said. "A lot of things have to happen for us. This puts our backs to the wall, but we'll respond."

The Breakers' road to the WTT playoffs wasn't made easy in competing for two sets against Navratilova, who spent 156 consecutive weeks and 331 total weeks as the world's No. 1 singles player during her career, a record at the time. Navratilova shares the all-time Wimbledon record of 20 titles with Billie Jean King, the Breakers' owner and World TeamTennis co-founder who was also in attendance Monday.

Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, a record 31 Grand Slam women's doubles and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She won the women's singles title at Wimbledon a record nine times and holds the open era record for most singles and doubles tournament wins (167 and 177 titles, respectively). She also recorded the longest winning streak in tennis history (74 matches) and shares the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (six). Her career singles match win total of 1,442 is the most during the Open Era.

The Breakers (5-7) beat the Lobsters (7-6) two nights prior in Massachusetts but Boston set a tone of revenge early by winning the first two sets by a 10-1 margin. Leading the charge was Navratilova in the match's opening set. She atoned for losing the same set to the Breakers on Saturday in fine fashion. (more) 2-2-2 NAVRATILOVA WINS IN MIXED DOUBLES AS BOSTON DEFEATS BREAKERS

"I'm going to be 40 this year and at 51, I wish I could be out there looking as good. She just hasn't missed a step," Kronemann said. "How do you argue with 20 Wimbledon titles and (344 Tour) titles?"

Though, the Breakers' women's doubles duo of Michaela Pastikova and Lilia Osterloh did capture the fourth set over Navratilova and Raquel Kops-Jones, 5-3, to keep the Breakers in striking distance going into the last set of the night - men's doubles.

Ramon Delgado and Kaes Van't Hof extended the match to overtime with a clutch 5-2 win as Delgado closed the set out with an ace. The Breakers then won the first two points of overtime before Boston answered with the next four to end the match.

Looking to begin a comeback in the third set, the Breakers turned to veteran ace Delgado, who infused his teammates and the Breakers Stadium crowd with his typical energy and intensity en route to a 5-2 victory over Jan-Michael Gambill. Delgado is the World TeamTennis Pro League leader in games won percentage in men's singles (58-of-96 games won, 60.4 percent). Gambill ranks No. 2 in that category.

"It's probably the toughest set to come back (in the fifth set), men's doubles," Delgado said, citing the difficulty in breaking serve against the men. "We didn't expect to be down by nine after the first two sets. But, in team tennis, you always have a chance to come back, and I know that if I could change the momentum and beat Gambill ... At the end, we still had chances. We can still do it."

Results: Mixed Doubles - Martina Navratilova/Amir Hadad (B) def. Lilia Osterloh/Kaes Van't Hof (NB), 5-1 Women's Singles - Marie-Eve Pelletier (B) def. Osterloh (NB), 5-0 Men's Singles - Ramon Delgado (NB) def. Jan-Michael Gambill (B), 5-2 Women's Doubles - Michaela Pastikova/Osterloh (NB) def. Navratilova/Raquel Kops-Jones (B), 5-3 Men's Doubles - Delgado/Van't Hof (NB) def. Gambill/Hadad (B), 5-2 Overtime - Gambill/Hadad (B) def. Delgado/Van't Hof (NB), 1-0 Final: Boston Lobsters 18, Newport Beach Breakers 16 (OT)

Limited general admission tickets ($45) are available for Tuesday's match vs. New York by calling 714-352-6301 or visiting www.NewportBeachBreakers.com, where fans can purchase tickets and choose their own seats from an online seating chart that takes real-time inventory.

The Breakers are owned by WTT founder Billie Jean King. Hoag Hospital Foundation has been granted the rights to manage the Breakers through 2009 by WTT with profits from the team's operations for the season benefiting Hoag Hospital.

The World TeamTennis Pro League presented by Advanta is set to begin its 33rd season. Each WTT team is comprised of two men, two women and a coach. Team matches consist of five events - one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. The first team to reach five games wins each set. A nine-point tiebreaker is played if a set reaches four-all. One point is awarded for each game won. If necessary, overtime and a supertiebreaker are played to determine the outright winner of the match.

About Newport Beach Breakers The Newport Beach Breakers are one of 11 nationwide teams that make up World TeamTennis (WTT). Co-owned by WTT founder Billie Jean King, Hoag Hospital Foundation has been granted the rights to manage the Breakers through 2009 by the WTT, with profits from the team's operations for the season benefiting Hoag Hospital. Hoag's expert involvement with professional sports also extends to its organization of the PGA Champions Tour's Toshiba Classic, held annually in March.



World TeamTennis Stories from July 22, 2008


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.

Other Recent Orange County Breakers Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central