WTT Update: Mark Philippoussis Leads Aces into Playoffs

Going into the last day of the regular season, five World Team Tennis teams vied for three playoff positions, seeking to earn the chance to play at Family Circle Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina to decide the World Team Tennis championship.

With a win over the Newport Beach Breakers, the Boston Lobsters clinched a berth into the Eastern Conference playoffs, eliminating the New York Sportimes from the playoff race. In the Western Conference, the situation was much more complicated, as there were a number of playoff tiebreaker scenarios in play, depending on the outcome of two different matches. After the dust settled, however, the St. Louis Aces and the Sacramento Capitals punched their tickets into the playoffs, eliminating the defending champions, the Kansas City Explorers from playoff contention.

The Kansas City Explorers and the St. Louis Aces squared off in what was essentially an early playoff game as the winner would clinch a spot into the Western Conference playoffs. Although the Explorers had the best record in the Western Conference going into the night, they would still be eliminated with a loss to the Aces coupled with a Sacramento Capitals victory.

Although Mark Philippoussis had struggled the night before for the Aces, he would come up huge on Thursday, defeating Alex Kuznetsov 5-2 in the opening set. Philippoussis went 12 for 12 on first serve points and earned a crucial break of serve against Kuznetsov to give the Aces off to a good start.

Varvara Lepchenko would build on the momentum for St. Louis, cruising past Jarmila Gajdosova 5-3 in the second set. Lepchenko was broken once, but responded by breaking Gajdosova twice en route to the second set victory, giving St. Louis a 10-5 lead in the early going.

Kuznetsov and Ricardo Mello took to the court in men’s doubles against Philippoussis and Jean-Julien Rojer, desperately needing to find a way to get the Explorers back into the match. Kuznetsov and Mello picked up the slack, defeating Philippoussis and Rojer 5-3 to cut the Aces team lead to 13-10.

But the Explorers were determined to extend their league, as Lepchenko and Liezel Huber defeated Gajdosova and Kevta Peschke 5-3, to make the score 18-13 going into the final set.

Peschke, who would be substituted for by Gajdosova at 1-1, and Kuznetsov fought to keep control of their playoff destiny, but were unable to overcome Huber and Rojer, giving the Aces the 5-2 fifth set victory. The Aces had clinched their spot into the playoffs, but would have to wait to see who their opponent would be depending on the outcome of Sacramento’s match against the Springfield Lasers.

The Explorers were still alive, but would need the Capitals to lose in their match against the Lasers. But behind the efforts of Vania King and Mark Knowles, the Capitals earned a spot into the playoffs with a 21-17 victory over the Springfield Lasers. The Kansas City loss, coupled with wins from the Aces and the Capitals left a three-way tie atop the Western Conference, but because St. Louis and Sacramento had a better common opponent games won tally, they were moving on to Charleston. The Aces enter the match as the No. 1 seed and the Capitals will be the No. 2 seed.

In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Lobsters defeated the Newport Beach Breakers 22-14 to make the playoffs, squashing the playoff hopes of the New York Sportimes.
The Lobsters will be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, and will play the Washington Kastles, who capped off an undefeated season with a 23-15 win over the Philadelphia Freedom. The Kastles had just the second undefeated season in World Team Tennis history.

Marquee Match-ups:

The playoffs are set to begin tonight in Charleston, starting with the Eastern Conference playoffs where the Washington Kastles will take on the Boston Lobsters.  The Kastles went 2-0 against the Lobsters during the regular season.

What are your playoff predictions?

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