Orange County Breakers stay in World Team Tennis playoff contention after outlasting Orlando Storm
Noah Rubin had a flight from the East Coast to Southern California on Monday morning after he was signed by the Orange County Breakers.
Hours later, Rubin was cast into the spotlight at Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach.
Though he was in his first match with the team, he was thrown into a troubling pattern for Orange County. The Breakers appeared about to let another big lead slip away.
Rubin went down 4-0 in men’s singles to Evan King of the visiting Orlando Storm. The fifth game went to a deuce point, which was also a match point for the Storm. But Rubin won it when King’s forehand went long.
King won the set 5-1, but that one game win ensured it would go to a super-tiebreaker. There, Rubin’s level went up.
Rubin won the super-tiebreaker 7-5, allowing the Breakers to escape with a 19-18 victory that kept them in solid contention for the World Team Tennis playoffs with two matches remaining.
“I was hoping to play, and I was driving back from [Washington] D.C., and they called me,” Rubin said. “I couldn’t get on a flight [Sunday] night, so I got on a flight [Monday] morning. I was a little tired and unprepared, but I’m happy. I played some good doubles. Some tough moments in the singles, but this is a great atmosphere. This is what tennis needs. I can’t stress it enough.”
The top four teams make the playoffs, which are Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas. Orange County (6-6) sits in fifth place, but is just a match behind Springfield, San Diego and New York, which are all in a three-way tie for second place at 7-5.
Orange County owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with New York, which has to play first-place Philadelphia on Tuesday and Wednesday. If New York loses at least one of those matches and the Breakers win out, they would make the playoffs. Orange County plays at Springfield on Tuesday and hosts last-place Washington on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the regular-season finale.
The Breakers actually played two matches at home Monday. They started with a rescheduled match against Washington, easily winning all five sets for a 25-11 score. It was their first sweep since 2017.
“It’s been a crazy thing, but a great day,” Breakers coach Rick Leach said. “To get two victories today puts us back in the hunt. The team is just great. We’ve got great energy, we’ve got positive energy, and that’s all I want is to be positive and get behind your teammates. That’s what they’re doing. The enthusiasm was great on the bench tonight, and the fans really helped us. The fans were terrific. They want close matches, and they’re getting them.”
Orange County eliminated Orlando (4-8) from playoff contention. The Breakers quickly took a 10-3 lead after two sets. Luke Bambridge and Andreja Klepac defeated Ken Skupski and Darija Jurak 5-1 in mixed doubles, then Nicole Gibbs beat Whitney Osuigwe 5-2 in women’s singles.
But the Breakers lost the next two sets. Orlando’s King and Skupski beat Bambridge and Rubin 5-4 in men’s doubles, and Jurak and Osuigwe beat Gibbs and Klepac 5-3 in women’s doubles.
The stage was set for Rubin, who ultimately came through in the end.
“I’m going to blame the team for putting me on last, but it is what it is,” Rubin said with a smile. “The owner [Eric Davidson] is right there, so hopefully I didn’t make him feel too nervous out there. Hopefully he still talks to me after this. We’ll see.”
On Sunday, the Breakers traded James Ward to San Diego for Petros Chrysochos and San Diego’s first-round draft pick in 2020.
“We thought there was an opportunity to improve our team for this year immediately, get some fresh blood in,” Breakers general manager Allen Hardison said. “The energy wasn’t quite there the last couple of matches. We blew a couple of big leads going into the fifth set every night at home, and that didn’t sit well, so we went out and made a change. We feel like we improved the team for this year and next year.”
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