Results tagged “tennis”

          

Written by DCist contributor Joe Parilla

              

In his fourth match of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, a semifinal contest against fellow American John Isner, #1 Andy Roddick was tested early and often, losing the his first set of the tournament and struggling to convert on break points. But finally, on serve at 5-5 in the third and decisive set, Roddick solved the powerful 6' 9" Isner (the last unseeded player standing) to earn a break, following up with a solid service game to close out the match 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5 before an appreciative capacity crowd at the Fitzgerald Tennis Center. When painted into corners, Roddick was often brilliant on the move, making risky shots just out of Isner's reach for forehand winners.

             

You go into a match with Ivo Karlovic assuming you're not going to break his serve. Or, in the words of Andy Roddick, "getting down an early break against Karlovic is a recipe for disaster." Fortunately for Roddick, he had never before dropped a service game to the Croat, a point raised he raised last evening in anticipation of the match and worried would jinx him today.

              

Andy Roddick earned his 500th career win yesterday evening, defeating fellow American Sam Querrey in Rock Creek Park. The milestone puts him in an elite rank of only four active players that includes Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, and Carlos Moya. The win puts him in today's quarterfinal round.

              

Crowd favorite Andy Roddick had little trouble with Benjamin Becker last night, cruising to a straight set victory (6-3, 6-2) in his first match of the tournament. After an extended break since his defeat to Roger Federer in the Wimbeldon final, Roddick was far from the top of his service game, landing only 58 percent of his firsts and routinely hitting in the one hundred and teens -- though at one point he did hit 145 mph on the radar gun. But his arching, powerful forehand and ability to paint the lines was more than enough for a victory in a tight 55 minutes. Speaking of his first match in four weeks, Roddick said that his "movement felt real good. I felt that I had decent control over spins and placement and good ball control." He acknowledged the large stadium court crowd -- organizers announced a sold-out evening -- who rewarded him with thunderous applause that only grew louder when the emcee acknowledged his performance at Wimbledon last month.

Things heat up in Rock Creek Park this evening as the man many local tennis fans have been waiting for, Andy Roddick, finally takes the court at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. Roddick, in his first action since Wimbledon, will face Benjamin (no relation to Boris) Becker no earlier than 7 p.m., after Becker outlasted American Robby Ginepri last night in a closely contested match featuring multiple tiebreakers. Roddick was originally scheduled to play last night. But after Becker reached the doubles final at the L.A. Tennis Open last Sunday, his opening match versus Ginepri got pushed back to yesterday -- hence delaying the match against Roddick by one day. Understanding the disappointment for fans that purchased Tuesday tickets expecting to see him, Roddick has set aside 150 free tickets for fans holding stubs from yesterday. The tickets can be picked up on a first come, first served basis from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lacoste store in Georgetown. In other Tuesday results: Juan Martin del Porto, Tommy Haas, and Juan Carlos Ferrero all needed a full three sets to advance last night, and a qualifier, Somdev Devarrman, was the first to pick off a seeded player, taking down Croat Marin Cilic in straight sets. Other highlights of tonight's action include Lleyton Hewitt battling Dudi Sela in an intimate grandstand match and American John Isner against the tournament's number 3 seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

             

Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, the 2007 champion, was the first big name to take the court in the 2009 Legg Mason Tennis Classic, drawing the up-and-coming American Donald Young and dispatching him in straight sets (matches at the Classic are best-of-three sets as opposed to the best-of-five you see in Grand Slam events). Hewitt willed himself early on with a sharp, point-by-point "come on" after braking Young's serve in the first set. Young, kicking off the next game with a successful challenge, immediately broke back, but then missed an easy kill and continued to mishit the ball, eventually dropping the first set 7-5. While Young was able to reach several deuce points in the second set, he was eventually worn down by Hewitt, who won 6-5, 6-2 in just over 90 minutes. The victory pits Hewitt against Israeli Dudi Sela in the next round.

Washington tennis fans have just barely had time to digest the Washington Kastles' triumphant World Team Tennis championship. But on the heels of their dramatic victory, it's time once again for a longer-standing rite of D.C. summers: the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

              

It's sadly not often that a Washington team wins a championship, so you might as well get down. A large collection of tennis aficionados did just that on Sunday night, after witnessing the Kastles overcome a late charge by the Springfield Lasers to win the WTT title and the King Trophy, 23-20. Since the WTT experience at its core is a jovial one, attendees were already in a good mood despite the sweltering heat and humidity. The victory for the home team had fans chanting in unison and leaping up and down.

              

The Washington Kastles tennis match last night against the New York Sportimes was surprisingly not sold out, but did come with everything you would expect from a match featuring John McEnroe.

             

When the number of matches a team is scheduled to play at home over the course of an entire season numbers only seven, and among those, only one will include said team's "star player," it's tough not to be cynical about exactly what purpose that star is filling. Are D.C. fans really supposed to feel a connection to Wimbledon champion Serena Williams, or is she just being offered up as added enticement to buy tickets?

Kastles 19, Freedoms 18: With the baseball world firmly entrenched in St. Louis, the Kastles had the local sports scene all to themselves last night, even though they weren't playing at home. The Kastles levelled their record at the King of Prussia Mall (largest mall on the East Coast!) northwest of Philadelphia -- and with their current four-game winning streak, coach Murphy Jensen's guarantee of a championship suddenly seems a lot more plausible. Back to the game at hand: one would think that a match between two teams boasting rosters with Andre Agassi and both Williams sisters would hinge on which stars got the better of the others. Not so -- Agassi and Venus didn't play for the Freedoms, and Serena got crushed in her singles match against Madison Keys. The Kastles rallied after that defeat, winning each doubles event. A Philadelphia win in the men's singles evened matters, sending the Kastles to their second tiebreaker scenario of the season. The Kastles' Scott Oudsema made short work of Nathan Healey in the extra set to avenge the loss to Philly in their home opener. Now tied for second in the Eastern Conference, the Kastles are back in action tomorrow night, when a sold-out crowd at 11th and H will hopefully witness the younger Williams bounce back to form against Newport Beach.

          

Most of the excitement, such as it was, about last night's poorly-attended match between the Washington Kastles and St. Louis Aces vanished when the main attraction, former star Anna Kournikova, was sidelined by a wrist injury. Or, at least, that would be true if the WTT was really about tennis, which it is not. Party tennis is right: the tour is obviously more entertainment than sport, focused on giving away T-shirts and Chipotle gift certificates and other such fun. Fans looking for an authentic tennis experience are advised, as always, to wait until next month's Legg Mason Classic.

            

The Washington Kastles, the local World Team Tennis franchise, played their 2009 home opener last night. Sadly, their 23-16 loss to the 1-2 Philadelphia Freedoms (whose star player Venus Williams was the big draw of the evening), pushed their record back to 0-3 overall. But World Team Tennis is not entirely about what's going on on the court or trivial things like win-loss records. In fact, we'd like to dub World Team Tennis as something more appropriate. Moving forward, we'll call it what it is: Party Tennis.

The Washington Kastles, D.C.'s one-year-old team in the World TeamTennis (WTT) league, announced their 2009 schedule today. The Kastles are set to host seven home matches this summer, along with the 2009 Advanta WTT Championship Finals in July. Team star Serena Williams will play in one home appearance, and throughout the season visiting star players Venus Williams, Anna Kournikova and John McEnroe will also play here in Washington.

              

With Andy Roddick's unexpected early departure, much of the star power of this year's Legg Mason Classic went with him. At the semifinal matches on Saturday, fans had the chance to watch one of the two remaining seeded players eliminate the other, followed by a match between two relative unknowns.

     

21 minutes. That's how long it took top seeded Andy Roddick to win the first set from unheralded Serbian Viktor Troicki. Roddick's fall from grace, however, lasted a bit longer. Troicki found his game soon after, breaking Roddick's massive serve twice in the second set and continually frustrating the top seed with his off pace ground strokes, taking the final two sets for a 0-6, 6-2, 6-4. win. Roddick seemed confused as to what to do when his forehand was no longer blowing Troicki off the court. His confidence shaken, he started dumping groundstrokes into the net with regularity and became visibly frustrated.

The top seed at the Legg Mason Classic, the fast-hitting Andy Roddick, has not exactly coasted on his way to defend his championship this year. In his second-round match last night, he dropped the first set to Argentina's Eduardo Schwank, 4-6. Roddick won the second set, but Schwank pressed Roddick into a tie-breaker for the match, which Roddick won without too much trouble.

             

Washington's most important tennis event, the Legg Mason Classic, got under way this week. Most of the major names in men's tennis are in Beijing this month, but ninth-ranked Andy Roddick, skipping the Olympics to be ready for the U.S. Open, decided to come back to the FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park to defend his title. Roddick is favored to win a second consecutive Legg Mason title, but he was happy to survive the first round, when all but three of the eight seeded players were upset. That included the former world no. 1 player Marat Safin, whom some put in the running to challenge Roddick. Safin resigned his first match after pulling a muscle in his neck.

The Washington Kastles fell to Delaware's only professional sports team, the Smash, last night at Kastles Stadium at CityCenter DC in a final score of 20-16. Kastles players repeatedly failed to execute on a number of crucial game points which left the match close up until the final set, when Sacha Jones ultimately crumbled during an intense women's singles match-up with strong 18-year-old Smash player Madison Brengle.

            

The Washington Kastles rallied from an early deficit Tuesday night to defeat the visiting New York Sportimes and tennis legend John McEnroe in front of a capacity crowd at Kastles Stadium at CityCenter DC. The women's doubles team of Mashona Washington and Sacha Jones won their match 5 games to 1 to set up a super-tiebreaker to decide the match, which they won 7-5.

Last week, we told you that the city's new World Team Tennis franchise, the Washington Kastles, asked you to come up with a name for one of their mascots. We are sorry, but perhaps not surprised, to disappoint DCist commenters with the news that Ballsy the Ball, Butterball, Deuce, Goofball, Meaty, Shuttle Cock, and my personal favorite, Dingle, were not chosen. According to the team's Web site, the winning suggestion was Topspin. If you submitted a name and feel you were robbed, let us know in the comments.

              

Regrettably, the Washington Kastles, the city's new World TeamTennis franchise, did not solicit our help in choosing their team name. Apparently wanting to make things right, the team is asking the public to suggest a name for one of their slightly creepy mascots, a dopey-eyed, cap-sporting tennis ball (the other one, a guy in a knight costume, is presumably, uh, Mr. Kastle? Sir Kastle?). The lucky person whose name is chosen will receive two free tickets to the Kastles' July 15 game against John McEnroe and the New York Sportimes. Go, DCists, enter now and enter often: have your entry sent by this Friday, July 11, at 6 p.m. Let us know what name you think should win. We are counting on you, commentariat.

The newest addition to World TeamTennis will begin play this season, which opens July 3. First they will have to find a venue somewhere around town and draft players on April 1.

Although the team is techincally on their All-Star break, DC United will take on the Columbus Crew tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Germantown, MD as part of the U.S. Open Cup. After losing to Real Salt Lake over the weekend, United will look to get back to their winning ways in a tournament they haven't won since 1996. There's a good chance Santino Quaranta will be back in the United line up after taking...

>> They can have all the closed door clubhouse meetings they want, but after being swept by the Padres over the weekend, our beloved Nationals have lost 22 of their last 30 games. Ouch. Nats manager Frank Robinson tried to shuffle the line up yesterday to no avail, and if this keeps up, he's running out of time to try any other tricks he has up his sleeve. The Nats are off today as...

DCist cannot tell a lie. We were more than a little disappointed (although somewhat elated as we had yet to purchase tickets) to hear that Andre Agassi has withdrawn from this year's Legg Mason Tennis Classic to better focus on the upcoming US Open. Agassi, a five time champion of the event, won his first tournament of the year last weekend in Los Angeles and opted to take this week off, lest his back problems flare up again. This will mark the first time since 1990 that Agassi has not played the event.

Catherine Andrews contributed to these picks FRIDAY: >> Okay, so it's not quite as groovy as the sing-along versions that swept the country over the last few years, but if you're looking for something a little bit fun and a whole lot wholesome tonight, you could do worse than the National Symphony Orchestra accompanying "The Wizard of Oz" on the lawn at the Wolf Trap. 8:30 p.m., $18 to $38. SATURDAY: >> Chopteeth, a...