WTT Orange County Breakers

Sharapova Stars in Breakers Win

Published on July 23, 2009 under World TeamTennis (WTT)
Orange County Breakers News Release


NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., July 22, 2009 - Newport Beach Breakers marquee player Maria Sharapova gave the fans at Breakers Stadium at Newport Beach Country Club their money's worth Wednesday night. The three-time Grand Slam champion, making her lone WTT appearance, played all three sets for which she was eligible and won all three by a combined margin of 15-8, leading the Breakers (9-5) to a 24-15 win over the Kansas City Explorers (6-8) in the Newport Beach Breakers Series Finale Presented by HOM Real Estate Group, their final tune-up before the playoffs.

The Breakers, the second-seeded team in the Advanta World TeamTennis Pro League playoffs, meet the top-seeded Springfield Lasers at Springfield Friday, July 24, in the Western Conference final.

"We didn't want to go to Springfield with a two-match losing streak, so this was very important to us, momentum-wise," said Breakers head coach Trevor Kronemann. "Anytime you have a champion like Maria Sharapova it gives you a six or seven game swing. That definitely helped us tonight. We would have loved to have her all season. We would love to have her in Springfield."

When Ramon Delgado's name is on the scoreboard in the first set, the Newport Beach Breakers would rarely expect to be losing at the start of the second. But that's what happened Wednesday night. However, Delgado's teammates reiterated the team in World TeamTennis and picked him up, promptly winning women's doubles at 5-2, mixed doubles at 5-2, women's singles at 5-4, and Delgado rebounded to pitch in a 5-2 men's doubles win to close out the match.

In the first event, up a break and 4-1 in the set, Delgado looked to have it firmly in his grasp. However, with another chance to break and win the set, tied at 3-3 in the game, Delgado hit it into net, and at that point, something came loose for the reigning WTT men's MVP and one of the top singles players in the league. Delgado then failed in his attempt to serve out the match, giving back the break andlosing three straight games and forcing a tiebreaker. After he hit two consecutive balls out on his service points to go down 2-0, Delgado pretty much sealed his fate - Russell closed out the tiebreaker, 5-0, to take the first set, 5-4.

In the second set, Julie Ditty and Sharapova raced out to a 2-0 set lead and 6-5 match lead, first breaking Meghann Shaughnessy, then with Sharapova holding serve. Ditty and Sharapova held from there - highlighted by Sharapova love service game - and broke Eugenie Bouchard for the 5-2 set win and 9-7 Breakers lead.

In the third event - mixed doubles - with the duo of Sharapova and Kaes Van't Hof up 2-1, two huge line returns gave them a 2-0 lead on Bouchard's serve, which Sharapova closed out, 4-2, on another rip down the line. Van't Hof closed his love service game with an ace to get to 4-1, and Sharapova closed out the set, 5-2, to increase the Breakers' lead to 14-9.

In the fourth event, Sharapova took on Shaughnessy in women's singles. Tied 1-1 with Shaughnessy on the serve, Sharapova won four straight points to go up a break, celebrating with an increasingly animated fist pump each time. Shaughnessy broke right back to tie the set at 2-2, then held serve and threatened to break Sharapova for the second-straight game, up 3-1. But, two Sharapova winners and a Shaughnessy return into the net knotted the set score again at three. Both players held serve - despite a Sharapova break point - to force the tiebreaker. Sharapova owned the tiebreak from the start. She quickly went up 2-0, surrendered one point, then won three straight to win the tiebreaker, 5-1, and the set, 5-4, and put the Breakers up 19-13.

In the final set, the league's top doubles team of Delgado and Van't Hof inherited a six-game lead and expectedly didn't relinquish it as they won the final set, 5-2, to put away the match.

The Breakers will play at the Springfield Lasers (12-1) in the WTT playoffs' Western Conference final on Friday, July 24. The teams met in Springfield July 6 as the Lasers pulled off the second-largest comeback in WTT history, rallying from a 20-12 deficit heading into the final set and emerging victorious, 22-21 in a Supertiebreaker. Springfield then topped the Breakers two days later at Breakers Stadium, 22-17, in overtime.

Results:

Men's Singles - Mike Russell (KC) def. Ramon Delgado (NB), 5-4 (5-0 tiebreak)

Women's Doubles - Julie Ditty/Maria Sharapova (NB) def. Eugenie Bouchard/Meghann Shaughnessy (KC), 5-2

Mixed Doubles - Sharapova/Kaes Van't Hof (NB) def. Bouchard/Dusan Vemic (KC), 5-2

Women's Singles - Sharapova (NB) def. Shaughnessy (KC), 5-4 (5-1 tiebreak) Men's Doubles - Delgado/Van't Hof (NB) def. Russell/Vemic (KC) 5-2

Final: Newport Beach Breakers 24, Kansas City Explorers 15

The Breakers are in their third year of operation under the auspices of Hoag Hospital Foundation, which has been granted the rights to manage the Breakers through 2009 by WTT with profits from the team's season operations benefiting Hoag Hospital. Breakers Stadium (capacity 2,000) is located at Newport Beach Country Club along Pacific Coast Highway, with views overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Breakers supporters can congregate online and expand the team's fan base through the team's official fan pages on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Newport-Beach-CA/Newport-Beach-Breakers/73887254402?ref=ts), MySpace (www.myspace.com/newportbeachbreakers) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/nbbreakers). Register to become a fan or follower of the Breakers at each fan page and use them to meet and chat with new friends and tennis fans and stay up to date on all team and player information related to the Breakers.

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World TeamTennis Stories from July 23, 2009


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