Former world No. 1 Martina Hingis led the New York Sportimes to an incredible 16-15 come-from-behind victory over the Western Conference leaders, the St. Louis Aces, on Monday.
It was a thrilling contest that went the distance, as Hingis edged out Liezel Huber of the St. Louis Aces by the slimmest of margins in the super-tiebreaker to give the Sportimes a 5-1 team record.
The St. Louis Aces took each of the three doubles sets, but they were dominated by the Sportimes in singles. Roman Borvanov and Jean-Julien Rojer from St. Louis took the first set 5-2 over Travis Parrott and Jesse Witten from New York to win in men’s doubles.
Huber and Maria Sanchez extended the lead for the Aces by winning 5-1 against Hingis and Katie O’Brien in women’s doubles, making the team score 10-3 in favor of St. Louis.
Things looked bleak for New York, but Witten obliterated Borvanov, 5-0, to get the Sportimes back into the match, cutting the deficit to 10-8.
Huber and Rojer regained the lead in mixed doubles by taking the set, 5-2, over Hingis and Parrott, leaving New York in a 15-10 hole for the match.
The final set in regulation came down to a women’s singles match-up between Hingis and Huber.
Hingis needed to at least win the set to send the match into overtime, and she ended up winning by a margin of 5-0 to single-handedly tie the match at 15 games apiece, sending the match into a deciding super-tiebreaker.
Hingis and Huber traded blows in the super-tiebreaker to knot the score at 6 points all.
Whoever earned the seventh point in the super-tiebreaker would ultimately win the match. Hingis was clutch, taking the last point to give New York an unlikely victory.
With the victory, the New York Sportimes kept pace with Eastern Conference leaders Washington Kastles, who have yet to be defeated in 2011.
Marquee match-ups: Former World No. 1 John McEnroe will make his 2011 World Team Tennis debut alongside Martina Hingis against conference rivals Washington Kastles. Will Hingis and McEnroe be enough to deal the Kastles their first loss of the season?
10sballs.com
No comments:
Post a Comment