Washington Kastles take down Boston Lobsters to win Eastern Conference Championship – WTT 2011
A convincing victory for Washington Kastles, in the WTT (World Team Tennis) Eastern Conference Championship, as they defeated Boston in the play offs on Friday. Being played at Family Circle Tennis Center, on Daniel Island in Charleston,
South Carolina, Kastles took down their opponents by a 23-15 win.
The contest took two hours and seventeen minutes of play, with three minutes been taken by the overtime round. Kastles reeled off the opening three sets of the contest and were about to white-wash their opponents when Lobsters
clinched two sets to impose overtime round into play. Kastles belted the overtime round to conclude a comprehensive victory.
The mixed pair of Leander Paes and Rennae Stubbs started off the proceedings from Kastles, taking on the team of Eric Butorac and Mashona Washington in the opening set. The Kastles faced no real challenge from their opponents in
the opening set and stung two successive serve breaks to take the first set at 5-2.
Arina Rodionova and Rennae Stubbs then teamed up to take the women’s duo of Irina Falconi and Mashona Washington in the next set. Rodionova proved extremely lethal for the Lobsters’ duo, as they cracked in two break points conversions
to bring five more points to their side, finishing off the second set at 5-1.
Lobsters’ position in the matchup further exacerbated in the third set when their men’s duo of Eric Butorac and Jan-Michael Gambill put up an ordinary performance against the belligerents Kastles pair of Leander Paes and Bobby
Reynolds. Paes and Reynolds reeled off 16 out of 21 total serve points in the set and broke their opponents’ serve twice to take to total scores to 15-5, after winning the third set.
Finally, Irina Falconi bagged the first set of the day for Lobsters in women’s singles by outplaying Arina Rodionova after a stiff contest. Both contestants nailed three serve breaks in succession but Falconi had the initial advantage
of serving first, which let her close out the set at 5-4, reducing her side’s total score deficit to 10-19.
Lobsters carried on their winning momentum in the fifth set as well, with Jan-Michael Gambill tracing down Bobby Reynolds in men’s singles round. Despite of an ordinary serve of 56 per cent, Gambill reeled off 11 out of 14 first
serve points to seal the set at 5-3, reducing Lobsters’ deficit to 15-22 and enforcing overtime round.
Bobby Reynolds ensured Kastles home by winning the overtime round and settled the final scores to 23-15 to register an emphatic win for his side.
The Kastles will next play either Sacramento Capitals or St. Louis Aces in the WTT Finals.
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