Washington Kastles win WTT title in 16-0 season

CHARLESTON, S.C. (July 24, 2011) -- It took nearly eight hours through three rain delays, but the Washington Kastles finally made World TeamTennis history by winning the WTT Championship and completing the first undefeated 16-0 record in WTT's 36 seasons.  The Kastles overpowered the St. Louis Aces 23-19 at the WTT Finals presented by GEICO on Sunday evening at the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, S.C.

Slowed by the first rain delay shortly after the 5 p.m. match start time, it took more than three hours for St. Louis to win the opening set of mixed doubles, 5-3.  The Aces, led by Jean-Julien Rojer and 2011 Female MVP Liezel Huber, won 72% of their first service points in a tight battle with Male MVP Leander Paes and Rennae Stubbs.

Stubbs and Rodionova upended Huber and Tamira Paszek in women's doubles, 5-0, to give the Kastles a 8-5 lead after the second set.  The Kastles continued to roll in men's doubles, powering past Rojer and Roman Borvanov 5-2.

Rodionova (pictured to the right with Coach Murphy Jensen), who was named MVP of the WTT Finals, took control in women's singles and edged Paszek to push the Kastles lead to seven games heading into the final set.  St. Louis staged an impressive rally in men's singles with Borvanov holding off Reynolds 5-4 to send the match into Overtime.  Borvanov won the first three games in Overtime to close the gap to 22-19 before Reynolds held serve to close out the historic victory just after 1 a.m.

Rennae Stubbs also made history by becoming only the fourth player in WTT history to be on five Championship teams.  Kastles co-captain Stubbs joins an elite list of 5-time WTT Champions - Martina Navratilova; Richie Reneberg; and Craig Kardon (as coach).

The Kastles finished the season with a 16-0 mark, while the Western Conference Champion St. Louis Aces finished at 9-7.

For more on WTT, visit WTT.com.

FINAL RESULTS

WTT Finals presented by GEICO - Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, S.C.

WASHINGTON KASTLES def. St Louis Aces 23-19 (OT)

Mixed Doubles:  Liezel Huber/Jean-Julien Rojer (STL) def. Rennae Stubbs/Leander Paes (WAS) 5-3

Women's Doubles: Rennae Stubbs/Arina Rodionova (WAS) def. Liezel Huber/Tamira Paszek (STL)  5-0

Men's Doubles:  Leander Paes/Bobby Reynolds (WAS) def. Jean-Julien Rojer/Roman Borvanov (STL)  5-2

Women's Singles:  Arina Rodionova (WAS) def. Tamira Paszek (STL) 5-4

Men's Singles:  Roman Borvanov (STL) def. Bobby Reynolds (WAS) 5-4

Overtime:  Roman Borvanov (STL) - 3, Bobby Reynolds (WAS) 1

Photos: Camerawork USA

 
Originally published on WTT.com

Source: http://feeds.tennis.com/~r/tenniscom-features/~3/HTHmdzpYadg/

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