Coming into this 2015 Season, the Washington Kastles professional tennis team had a lot to live up to. They had 34 straight wins, the longest streak in the history of the sport. But the streak was broken on their home court during their recent match against the San Diego Aviators. The Kastles lost the match 21-18.
During the Men’s Singles, the Kastles Denis Kudla played the Aviators Taylor Fritz. It was a tough match but Fritz was the better player, having consistent winners that Kudla just couldn’t attack. Fritz pulled off the first match 5-3.
When the Women’s Doubles came up, it was the Kastles Madison Brengle and Anastasia Rodionova versus the Aviators Chani Scheepers and Darija Jurak.
In this first game, the Aviators came out hungry and passionate. They broke Brengle’s serve which was not a good way for the Kastles to start the match. Washington lost the second game as well, even as the audience continued to cheer “A-Rod!”, Rodionova’s nickname. She had a hard time in Game 2, getting passed at the net and seemingly unable to get to the ball.
In Game 3, Rodionova served and held serve. The Kastles got a break in Game 4 as Aviators earned a double fault and lost their momentum. The match continued to go back and forth, ending in an exciting tiebreaker at 4-4. At this point, Rodionova served but received a beautiful return by the opposition. The Kastles ultimately lost the heart-breaker to the Aviators, 4-5.
When the Men’s Doubles took the court, Washington’s Leander Paes and Kudla were up against San Diego’s Fritz and Klaasen.
In Game 1, Kudla served and held. In Game 2, Fritz served and the Aviators held serve. At 1-1, Leander served and continued to hold serve. Next Klaasen served and held. The match looked pretty even, resulting in solid points until Game 6 when Washington dominated San Diego and took over the match. Paes and Kudla consistently hit winners and knocked down balls to win the match 5-2, finally putting some points on the board for the Kastles.
The Women’s Singles team match featured Kastles Madison Brengle vs. the Aviators Chani Scheepers. Scheepers came out strong with no unforced errors and hitting consistent winners. She dominated the match until Game 5 when Brengle got it together, making the score 2-3 Washington. Scheepers served and held serve, ending the game with a big winner down the line. This put San Diego ahead 4-2. Brengle won the next game but it wasn’t enough… Scheepers took the match at 5-3.
The final score that match was 17-15, San Diego.
The last Mixed Doubles match was going to be important for the Kastles to pull out the win and Washington’s Paes and Rodionova were up against San Diego’s Klaasen and Jurak.
Leander served in Game 1 and held and Klaasen served game two and held. In Game 3, Rodionova served and the Aviators broke serve. It was an exciting match because at this point, the overall score on the evening was 20-17, San Diego.
The score of this last match was 3-3 going into Game 7, when Leander hit a big overhead shot. It was just not enough, however. He had a lot of unforced errors, hitting many shots in the net. The Kastles lost this game and any momentum they had found. Washington lost the entire match 3-5, putting the overall team score 21-18 Aviators.