WTT Washington Kastles

Rookie Rodionova Leads Kastles to 4-0 Record

July 9, 2011 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


Through three matches this season, Washington Kastles rookie Arina Rodionova waited patiently to make her World TeamTennis debut.

Backing up Venus and Serena Williams, the Russian was happy to support her teammates, taking to Twitter to tell her followers: "I have the best team and our fans are the most supportive! Thanks guys!!! GO KASTLES!!!"

On Friday night, Rodionova put away her laptop, picked up her racquet and made her mark, winning women's doubles and singles to lead the Kastles to a 23-20 road win over the Springfield Lasers.

At 4-0, the Kastles are the only undefeated team remaining in the league. But staying perfect was anything but easy.

Four of the five events played Friday night went to a tiebreaker, and the Kastles needed to save three set points in men's doubles to prevent a Supertiebreaker.

Through three sets, the Kastles had yet to face a single break point in the match, but they had to settle for a 13-12 halftime lead.

Raven Klaasen of Springfield opened play by edging Bobby Reynolds 5-4 in men's singles.

Washington rebounded when Rodionova and Rennae Stubbs won the women's doubles set 5-2 over Lilia Osterloh and Carly Gullickson. Rodionova served out the set to give Washington a 9-7 lead.

Leander Paes of the Kastles suffered his first loss in mixed doubles at the hands of Gullickson and Paul Hanley. The Lasers' duo defeated Paes and Stubbs 5-4, narrowing Springfield's deficit to one game at the half.

That put Rodionova in a precarious position: needing to win her women's singles set to keep Washington in the lead heading into the final event.

The rookie proved up to the task, rallying from a break down to defeat Osterloh 5-4 and increase Washington's lead to 18-16.

Paes and Reynolds won the first two games of the men's doubles set to give Washington a four-game advantage. But Hanley and Klaasen recovered the break, and then held three set points with a 4-3 lead.

Had the Lasers converted any of those chances, they would have tied the match score at 21-all and forced a Supertiebreaker. But Paes and Reynolds were cool under pressure, holding serve before clinching a 5-4 win and keeping the Kastles' perfect season intact.

TONIGHT: KASTLES @ Sacramento Capitals Preview

Washington Kastles (4-0) at Sacramento Capitals (1-2)

Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 10:30 pm

Live Scoring:

WashingtonKastles.com

Real-Time Analysis: Facebook, Twitter

Serena Williams returns for her second of four matches with the Kastles this season, joining the team on the West Coast for a showdown with the Sacramento Capitals.

A winner of 13 Grand Slam singles, 12 women's doubles and two mixed doubles titles, Serena was victorious in all three events that she played in Thursday's match between the Kastles and Boston Lobsters.

She looks to be a heavy favorite again on Saturday because Sacramento's top female player, Vania King, will not join her team until next week. That leaves former college players Yasmin Schnack and Christina Fusano with the unenviable task of stopping Serena and the Kastles.

Log on to WashingtonKastles.com at 10:30 pm for live scoring and statistics from Sacramento as the Kastles seek a fifth straight win! The Kastles' official website brings you point-by-point updates during every match this season.

PROJECTED MATCHUPS

Women's Singles: Serena Williams (WAS) vs. Yasmin Schnack (SAC)

Men's Singles: Bobby Reynolds (WAS) vs. Dusan Vemic (SAC)

Women's Doubles: S. Williams/Rennae Stubbs (WAS) vs. Schnack/Christina Fusano (SAC)

Men's Doubles: Reynolds/Leander Paes (WAS) vs. Vemic/Mark Knowles (SAC)

Mixed Doubles: S. Williams/Paes (WAS) vs. Schnack/Knowles (SAC)

SET BY SET

Yasmin Schnack of the Capitals is enjoying a career-high ranking on the WTA Tour this week. That ranking, however, is No. 379 in the world, which makes the 23-year-old from Sacramento a heavy underdog against Serena Williams of the Kastles. An All-American at UCLA in 2010, Schnack won her first two singles sets in World TeamTennis this week against Maria Sanchez of St. Louis and Madison Brengle of Kansas City. The level of competitions gets turned up significantly on Saturday.

In men's singles, Washington's Bobby Reynolds is scheduled to play Dusan Vemic of Serbia. At 35, Vemic's best days on the ATP World Tour are behind him, but he's a dangerous shot-maker and a veteran of World TeamTennis dating back to 2002. Vemic and Reynolds have split their four prior meetings on tour, with the Kastle winning his last two meetings against the Capital. In 2011, Reynolds is 2-0 in singles sets at home, but 0-2 on the road.

Serena and Rennae Stubbs will seek their second straight victory in women's doubles when they meet Schnack and University of California alum Christina Fusano. While the Kastles' duo defeated CoCo Vandeweghe and Mashona Washington of the Lobsters 5-2 on Thursday, Schnack and Fusano are also coming off a big win, defeating Martina Hingis and Katie O'Brien of the New York Sportimes on Friday.

After Reynolds was broken in the first game of the 2011 season, he and Leander Paes have dropped serve just once through four men's doubles sets. They will need to continue that run against Vemic and Mark Knowles on Saturday. Like Paes, Knowles is a former world No. 1 doubles player. Head-to-head Paes is 8-14 lifetime against the Bahamian, and they actually played as partners 17 years ago at a pair of tournaments in France.

Paes will team with a Williams sister for the fourth time in five mixed doubles sets this season. So far, the results have been tremendous. In two sets with Venus, and one with Serena, Paes has won 15 of 20 games. He and Serena are likely to face Knowles and Schnack in Sacramento.

KEY FOR THE KASTLES - LET EXPERIENCE PAY OFF

The Kastles have lost each of the five WTT events at least once so far this season. Yet, they arrive in Sacramento with a 4-0 record, testament to the way Kastles' players rally behind one another and contribute to the teams' success.

On Saturday, the men's and mixed doubles sets featuring Paes of Washington and Knowles of Sacramento could go either way. But the women's events are the Kastles to lose.

Serena and Stubbs have combined to win 33 Grand Slam titles. Together, Schnack and Fusano have won one match at a major. The Washington women should be able beat their counterparts handily, providing the Kastles with an insurmountable lead en route to their fifth win in as many days.



World TeamTennis Stories from July 9, 2011


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