With the Lasers 19-20 Supertiebreaker loss last night in Orange County, and the Wild’s 22-18 win over Sacramento, Springfield and Texas both end the 2013 World Team Tennis regular-season with 9-5 records. Because the Lasers won their only other match 10-days ago, Springfield earned the honor of hosting the Western Conference Championship tonight at Mediacom Tennis Stadium.
In the Eastern Conference, the Lobsters were crushed by the Kastles in their final regular season match 25-9, leaving Boston with a 5-9 record. With a win in Philadelphia, the New York Sportimes could have secured a spot in the Eastern Conference Final; but the Freedoms stepped-up as spoilers, winning the match 20-11 behind a 5-0 routing by Sam Groth and Jordan Kerr over John McEnroe and Robert Kendrick in Mens Doubles. With the win, the Freedoms also finished the season with a 5-9 record, but Boston won both of their previous matches this year…leaving the Lobsters in Washington to face the Kastles again tonight for the Eastern Conference Championship. Needless to say, that’s a huge ask for Boston with Leander Paes and Martina Hingis both returning for playoff action with the Kastles.
LASERS vs. ORANGE COUNTY: Last night the Lasers finished the regular season on the road in Orange County and jumped out to an early 5-1 lead thanks to Mixed Doubles. Vania King and Alisa Kleybanova then suffered a rare loss in Womens Doubles (3-5) to Maria Elena Camerin and Liga Dekmeijere. It was 11-all after Mens Singles with Steve Johnson’s (5-3) over Rik DeVoest. Kleybanova then put the Lasers up 16-14 going into the final event, defeating Camerin (5-3) in Womens Singles. SURPRISE! Juls Rojer elected to save his aching shoulder for the playoffs, after putting the Lasers up (3-1) in Mens Doubles and up 19-15 in the match. Coach JL de Jager took the court with fellow South African Rik DeVoest…and they lost four straight games to Treat Huey and Steve Johnson, leaving the score 19-all. In the Supertiebreak, Orange County ran-off with the win 7-1, winning the match 20-19 at home.
MXD (W) 5-1 Rojer/King vs. Johnson/Dekmeijere
WD (L) 3-5 King/Kleybanova vs. Camerin/Dekmejiere
MS (L) 3-5 DeVoest vs. Johnson
WS (W) 5-3 Kleybanova vs. Camerin
MD (L) 3-5 JL de Jager/DeVoest vs. Huey/Johnson
STB (L) (1-7)
TEXAS vs. SACRAMENTO: Last night in Texas, Sacramento jumped out to an early 10-7 lead. Mark Knowles and Sam Querrey defeated Alex Bogomolov, Jr. and Aisam Qureshi (5-3), then took the Womens Doubles set in a tiebreak. Without Darija Jurak, the Wild teamed-up Eugenie Bouchard with Tara Snyder and they defeated Taylor Townsend and Megan Moulton-Levy in a tiebreak. In Mens Singles, Bogomolov took out Sam Querrey (5-2) and leveled the overall score to 12-all. Eugenie Bouchard then took-out Taylor Townsend in a tiebreak, while Qureshi and Bouchard capped the win with a (5-2) win over Mark Knowles and Townsend in the final Mixed Doubles set. Final score: 22-18, Texas Wild.
MD (L) 3-5 Bogomolov/Qureshi vs. Knowles/Querrey
WD (L) 4-5 Bouchard/T.Snyder vs. Townsend/Moulton-Levy
MS (W) 5-2 Bogomolov vs. Querrey
WS (W) 5-4 Bouchard vs. Townsend
MXD (W) 5-2 Qureshi/Bouchard vs. Knowles/Townsend
TONIGHT: The Eastern Conference Championship (Boston in Washington) begins at 6:10p CDT with streaming coverage on wtt.com. The Western Conference Championship (Texas at Springfield) begins at 7:05 CDT at Cooper Tennis Complex on Pythian. Coverage will be streamed on wtt.com; Don West and I will have the call on Mediacom Connections 22. The Western Conference Champion will then travel to the home of the Eastern Conference Champion for the World Team Tennis Finals this Sunday, July 28th.
See you tonight at Medicaom Tennis Stadium. Come cheer on the Springfield Lasers!
2013 WORLD TEAM TENNIS SEASON
Western Conference
- Springfield Lasers 9-5
- Texas Wild 9-5
- Orange County Breakers 7-7
- Sacramento Capitals 5-9
Eastern Conference
- Washington Kastles 12-2
- Boston Lobsters 5-9
- Philadelphia Freedoms 5-9
- New York Sportimes 4-10
