Lasers Use Singles Play to Down Empire

The Springfield Lasers defeated the New York Empire 25-17 on Wednesday night at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as the men’s and women’s singles flights proved to be the difference.

Miomir Kecmanovic got things started for the Lasers as he took on Mardy Fish in men’s singles. A late push from 1-3 down was not enough for Fish as Kecmanovic won the match to give the Lasers the early lead.

“You never want to come out first and lose 5-2, and get broken on serve twice; that doesn’t happen very often for me at any time,” said Fish. “It’s unfortunate that I let the team here and didn’t send get them off to a good start.”

In women’s doubles, Tatjana Maria and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez opened up a 3-0 lead, but the Lasers’ duo of Vania King and Abigail Spears staged a massive comeback to win the flight in a tiebreaker 5-4.

After a clinical display of serving as the men’s doubles match saw eight service holds in a row, it went to another tiebreaker. The Empire was once again unable to convert and Kecmanovic and Daniel Nestor beat Fish and Neal Skupski 5-4, as the Lasers pushed its overall lead to 15-10.

King bolstered the Lasers’ advantage with a 5-2 win over Maria at women’s singles. King broke Maria three times in the match to just about put the match out of reach for the Empire.

“The fans really get into it,” King said of what makes the World TeamTennis atmosphere special. “You get to play at home and away which is not typically what we get to do in tournaments. And with the team aspect, you really get to bond with each other and support each other much more than we would throughout the normal season. I can’t say it is less pressure because we still really want to win, but it is still a lot of fun.”

Skupski and Martinez Sanchez fought to keep the Empire alive as they won 5-4 in the mixed doubles set, and thus sent the match into extended play. But Nestor and Spears would end any hopes of a comeback there as they won the first game of extended play, and completed the Lasers 25-17 victory.