During the 2013 season of World Team Tennis, Texas may have snapped Washington’s historic win-streak, and Springfield may have handed the Kastles their first home loss in over two-years; but in the end, no one had the winning combination to take down Murphy Jensen’s seasoned line-up of all-stars including Martina Hingis (league female MVP), Leander Paes, Bobby Reynolds and Anastasia Rodionova.
In dominating fashion, on their home-court, the Washington Kastles cruised past the Lasers (25-12), leaving the D.C. tennis stage to the Citi Open with week two of the Emirates Airline US Open Series.
Andy Roddick was back with his Lasers for the Final, but Coach JL de Jager only committed the 2003 US Open Champion to Mixed Doubles, the final set of the night. As he did in their previous match, Rik DeVoest struggled against Bobby Reynolds in the Final’s first set, losing 1-5. A Laser-strength, Womens Doubles, was next – a must-win for Springfield – but with a living legend and a top-30 doubles player on the other side of the net, Vania King and Alisa Kleybanova were outgunned and lost the event 3-5. With Rojer and DeVoest down, de Jager subbed-in Andy Roddick during the Mens Doubles event, but Paes and Reynolds continued to dominate the set, eventually winning 5-2.
Needless to say, at halftime, it was all over but the crying. Washington was up 15-6 and the Lasers had exhausted their season strengths. In Womens Singles, Martina Hingis ran-away with the win over Alisa Kleybanova 5-2. And in Mixed, Jean-Julien Rojer, Andy Roddick and Alisa Kleybanova put games on the board and managed to force a tiebreak, but Leander Paes and Martina Hingis capped the season by winning the King trophy together in a tiebreak.
7/28 – World Team Tennis Final: Washington def. Springfield (25-12)
MS (W) 5-1 Reynolds def. DeVoest
WD (W) 5-3 Hingis/Rodionova def. King/Kleybanova
MD (W) 5-2 Paes/Reynolds def. Rojer/DeVoest/Roddick
WS (W) 5-2 Hingis def. Kleybanova
MXD (W) 5-4 Paes/Hingis def. Kleybanova/Roddick
