Former women's world tennis champ Martina Hingis, along with MVP Bobby Reynolds, were behind the play in the World Team Tennis Championship that defeated the Springfield Lasers on Sunday night. The Washington Kastles won their fourth finals in the last five years with 25-12, closing out its third world championship.
“It’s just amazing,” said Hingis, 32, commenting on winning the title at home in her first season with the Kastles, according to Washington Times. “The feeling that I have to be part of this team because they worked so hard to get here … [and] now at the end of all the effort that we put together and all of the dedication they have, it’s a great team.”
Playing before a crowd of 2,670 fans, Hingis and Leander Paes defeated Alisa Kleybanova and Andy Roddick in mixed doubles.
“I started off pretty well in the [mixed doubles] then my energy level dropped a little bit,” said Hingis, according to Washington Times. “And that’s when [Paes] kind of lifted his game amazingly, and it’s pretty cool to have five perfect sets.”
The scoring method for World Team Tennis is counting the total scores from the five sets played: men’s singles, women’s singles, women’s doubles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Reynolds defeated Rik de Voest with a 5-1 win. Hingis and Anastasia Rodionova played Alisa Kleybanova and Vania King and won with 5-3 in their doubles match.
Hingis has won the 1999 and 2000 Rogers Cup singles titles as well as doubles trophies in 1998 and 2000. She is five-time grand slam champion in singles – three Australian Opens, one at Wimbledon and another at the U.S. Open – and has also won nine major titles in women’s doubles and one in mixed doubles.
