Kastles Beat Breakers 21-13, Return Home 6-0
(Photo by Vithaya Phongsavan)
The Washington Kastles' best start in franchise history got even better on Monday night as the team won eight of nine deciding points in doubles to claim a 21-13 road win over Newport Beach.
Now 6-0, the Kastles remain the only undefeated team in World TeamTennis, with John McEnroe, Martina Hingis and the 5-1 New York Sportimes due in DC tonight at 7 pm for a match between the two teams with the best records in the league.
Through three road matches, Washington had yet to win the opening set and 2010 Rookie of the Year Bobby Reynolds was 0-3 in men's singles away from home going into Monday night.
Reynolds resolved both of those problems against the Breakers, defeating marquee player Taylor Dent 5-2 to begin the match. With breaks in the third and seventh games, Reynolds wore down Dent's booming serve, which topped out at 150 miles per hour at San Jose last February.
Following his singles win, Reynolds carried momentum into men's doubles as he and Leander Paes broke Dent for the third time of the evening to take a 2-0 lead.
Paes held serve one game later by saving four consecutive break points, and then the Kastles broke Lester Cook for good measure by winning their third 3-All deciding point of the set. Reynolds served out a 5-0 shutout to give Washington a 10-2 lead.
The Kastles' men's doubles team leads the league with five sets and 29 games won this season.
Paes stayed on court for mixed doubles, and he and Rennae Stubbs immediately broke Cook to open the set. The Kastles would hold serve three times in the set by winning a 3-All point, clinching a 15-5 halftime lead by winning the event 5-3 over Cook and Marie-Eve Pelletier.
The second half featured only women's play, but little changed on court as Stubbs and Arina Rodionova won a pair of 3-All points en route to a 5-2 women's doubles win over Pelletier and Anne Keothavong.
Rodionova was unable to complete a Kastles' sweep, falling 5-0 to the 94th-ranked Keothavong before closing the match out in overtime by breaking the Brit in her first service game.