Breakers storm the Capitals

NEWPORT BEACH ? Russia-born Anastassia Rodionova appeared relaxed and loose. She was decked out in a baseball cap and sunglasses, her bronzed skin glistening. She looked every bit the Southern California girl, and she was holding court at the Palisades Tennis Club.

Rodionova has had a busy, if up and down season, playing a league-high 109 games and going 53-56 in women’s singles in the regular season.

Before the season started, Newport Beach Coach Dick Leach said Rodionova was the key to the team’s success. On Saturday, she was exactly that.

Rodionova won her singles set handily, then teamed with Tina Krizan for a clutch doubles victory, leading the Breakers to a 19-18, come-from-behind win over the Western Conference champion Sacramento Capitals (10-5) in a World Team Tennis semifinal.

The Breakers’ Pete Sampras missed the match with a strained left hamstring, and is expected to be out of action today as well.

The Breakers (8-8) meet the Philadelphia Freedoms (9-6) in today’s 1 p.m. final, also at the Palisades Tennis Club.

The Freedoms upset the Eastern Conference champion New York Sportimes, 23-17, in the other semifinal Saturday.

This is the third consecutive season the Breakers have reached the championship match. They won the WTT title in 2004, when Ramon Delgado was named the Most Valuable Player of the final.

Rodionova’s standout performance Saturday put Delgado and Rick Leach in position to clinch the match, and the men’s duo didn’t disappoint.

The Breakers, who have now won four straight matches, were quickly in a 5-0 hole after Krizan and Leach were schooled by Mark Knowles and Elena Likhovtseva in mixed doubles.

“He gave me a lesson,” Leach said of the drubbing.

But next up was women’s singles, and Rodionova was more than up for the task of getting the Breakers back in the match. Rodionova, often hot-tempered on the court, was cool and collected, breaking Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to take a 2-0 lead after a double fault.

On July 12 in Sacramento, Rodionova defeated Pavlyuchenkova, 5-4. But on July 13 in Newport Beach, Pavlyuchenkova earned a 5-2 victory over Rodionova.

After two games, Sacramento Coach Wayne Bryan, who earned WTT Coach of the Year honors for the third straight season, pulled Pavlyuchenkova in favor of Likhovtseva. But it made no difference. Rodionova didn’t blink during a long baseline rally, and Likhovtseva finally hit a backhand into the net to give Rodionova a 3-0 lead.

Likhovtseva was able to hold her serve, but so was Rodionova, who won the set, 5-2, on a cross-court forehand.

“I was just trying to get as many games as possible,” Rodionova said. “I was trying to get us even.”

After Delgado, the No. 1 men’s singles player in the WTT during the regular season based on winning percentage, was edged by the No. 2 men’s singles player in the WTT, Warburg, 5-4, the Breakers trailed, 12-9.

Delgado won 30 of 48 games during the regular season, a .625 winning percentage.

Rodionova took the court again, this time with Krizan in women’s doubles. Krizan, who struggled in mixed doubles, was back on her game with Rodionova. The Breakers’ duo went to a tiebreaker with Likhovtseva and Pavlyuchenkova.

Both Krizan and Rodionova had key volleys during the tiebreaker, which they won, 5-1, to pull the Breakers to within 16-14 with only men’s doubles remaining.

“Our opponents were very hard,” Krizan said. “But I knew we had to win in doubles to help the guys.”

“Tina played really good in doubles,” Rodionova said.

The deciding set featured two players, Leach and Knowles, well known for their doubles play both in the WTT and on the ATP Tour.

“But the difference is, he’s still in his prime and I’m past my prime,” Leach said. “I have a lot of respect for Mark.”

Leach was the one who appeared to be in his prime in the final set. When Warburg returned Leach’s 113-mph serve into the net, the set was tied, 2-2, and the Breakers trailed, 18-16.

If Delgado and Leach wanted to win the set in regulation, they couldn’t drop another game. When Knowles’ overhead smash went long, Delgado and Leach had the break they needed and took a 3-2 lead. The Breakers held serve to take a 4-2 lead and tie the score, 18-18.

Suddenly the Breakers were on the verge of victory.

In the seventh game, Knowles couldn’t handle Leach’s backhand volley at his feet. Knowles followed that up with a double fault. After a Knowles ace and a Leach volley, Knowles double-faulted again and the Breakers waltzed away with the victory.

The Breakers will earn a $20,000 bonus if they finish as runners-up today. They’ll earn a $30,000 bonus if they take the WTT title.

“Every once in a while, I flash back and play like I’m 25 again,” Leach said. “Delgado gave me a lot of chances to put balls away. He played some great doubles.”

The Capitals swept two regular-season matches against the Breakers by identical 20-17 scores. But the Breakers were without Delgado in both of those matches.

Delgado’s 5-4 tiebreaker loss to Warburg was just the second singles set he’s dropped all season. But he didn’t let it affect his doubles play.

“I’m so happy,” Delgado said. “We played unbelievable doubles.”

After going 6-8 during the regular season, did the Breakers think they’d be going back to the championship match again?

“To be honest, no,” Leach said. “But we got a shot with the wild card and played well against Springfield. Sacramento beat us twice during the regular season, so we figured we’d just have fun, be aggressive, stay close and hope for some luck at the end.”

“We had a hard time during the season,” Rodionova said. “But the whole team stayed together and kept fighting for every point.”

The Breakers’ regular-season woes were due in part to the occasional absence of Delgado and the rustiness of Sampras. But Sampras was improving before his injury and Delgado is healthy and present.

“We had a couple of bad matches on the road,” Delgado said. “But we have great players. Anastassia is a great player and Tina and Rick have been on top in doubles. I always believed in us.”