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by Christopher Gerby The 2001 World Team Tennis season is still in its first week, but the two New York franchises were already squaring off for the second time on Friday night. The Buzz won their season opener 21-16 on the Hamptons' home court without star player Mahesh Bhupathi, so this return engagement figured to be an even easier victory. Player/owner Patrick McEnroe's Hamptons came in with an 0-2 record and a rather low wattage lineup. The Davis Cup captain has recruited his brother John and matinee idol Jan-Michael Gambill to play part-time for the Hamptons, but neither man was in the lineup for this bout. First set -- mixed doubles: Bhupathi/De Villiers vs. McEnroe/Srebotnik The mixed combination of Mahesh Bhupathi and Nannie de Villiers is a real strong suit for the Buzz, so their goal was to build an early lead by playing that set first. The men each held serve to start it off and De Villiers was on her way to following suit at 40-0. The Hamptons came storming back, however, and forced a sudden death "game point" at 40-40. All four players got involved in the ensuing rally, which ended with Katarina Srebotnik rifling a smash at Bhupathi. He got a racquet on it, but his reflex volley landed just wide to surrender the break. Mahesh was in good form, though, and he shone brightly in a break of Srebotnik's serve, evening matters at 2-2. Patrick McEnroe hasn't played regularly on the ATP circuit since 1997 and he looked rusty in the early stages of this set. He tallied a pair of winners in Game 5, however, and really made Bhupathi work to hold serve. In a set which was becoming unusually long by Team Tennis standards, Game 6 also went to 40-all. Bhupathi ended it in style, launching a backhand winner down the line to break for 4-2. The usually reserved Indian raised a clenched fist and let out a celebratory "woo!" De Villiers then served out the set, winning it 5-2 as one last McEnroe backhand floated long. Patrick threw his racquet in disgust, having failed to give his team a critical early lead. OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 5, HAMPTONS 2 Second set -- women's singles: Jill Craybas vs. Katarina Srebotnik Katarina Srebotnik burst onto the WTA Tour in 1999, winning the very first tournament of her career in Estoril. The young Slovenian looked like a star of the future, but inconsistency and self-doubt have plagued her ever since. While still a force in doubles, she has fallen to an ignominious 130th in the singles rankings. Sure enough, Srebotnik found herself in an early 0-3 hole against the Buzz's steadier Jill Craybas. Katarina narrowed the gap to 1-3 with a service break and got some reassuring pats on the back from doubles partner Tina Krizan and Patrick McEnroe during the changeover. She then went out and scored two aces in a hold for 2-3. Granted, the second ace was one of those only-in-Team-Tennis lets which trickled over the net and fell in. The momentum really seemed to be getting away from Craybas when she bricked an easy volley to trail 0-30 in the sixth game. However, she reeled off four consecutive winning points and the set stayed on serve to 4-3. Needing a break to survive, Srebotnik got the wrong end of a dodgy line call. Two points away from a loss at 30-0, she tossed her racquet and grumbled, to no avail. Srebotnik took her frustrations out on the ball by smacking a pair of forehand winners for 30-30. Craybas earned set point with a service winner, but netted a forehand to bring up a pivotal 40-40 game point. Srebotnik had been hitting two-handed backhands for most of the set, but on this key point she went for a one-handed slice...which fell harmlessly into the net. So ended a frustrating 5-3 loss for the Hamptons, leaving them with a real hill to climb. OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 10, HAMPTONS 5 Third set -- women's doubles: Craybas/De Villiers vs. Krizan/Srebotnik The visitors from upstate finally started to turn things around by breaking Nannie de Villers's serve to open Set # 3. However, Nannie responded by playing lights out tennis for the next several games. She was looking every bit the doubles specialist, showing quick reflexes and floating lob volleys over her opponents' heads. The Buzz won four games in a row, clinching a 4-1 lead when a poaching Craybas tucked away a forehand volley. Srebotnik was still peeved about the officiating and repeatedly gestured to a mark on the court after one of her serves was ruled a fault in Game 6. This got her nothing but abuse from announcer Dr. Sound, who sarcastically inquired, "Hey, when did we start playing on clay?" The Hamptons eventually held for 2-4, and got to 15-40 against Jill Craybas. Undaunted, Jill dodged the break points and struck a winning forehand volley to complete the surprisingly handy 5-2 victory. Craybas and De Villiers engaged in a high five after extending the Buzz's lead to a whopping eight points. OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 15, HAMPTONS 7 Fourth set -- women's singles: Justin Bower vs. Jonathan Stark Still eschewing the Buzz's official cap, Justin Bower donned an orange visor for his Friday night efforts. The backhand pass appears to be Bower's best weapon (aside from his first serve), so a serve-and-volleyer who's lost a step would seem to play right into his hands. 30-year-old Jonathan Stark may have a few more quivers left in his bow than Patrick McEnroe, but he looked overmatched early in this set. Bower won eight of the first nine points, lacing lovely one-handed backhands en route to a 2-0 lead. The next few games went with serve pretty routinely, Bower extending his lead to 4-2. Stark was two points away from defeat in Game 7, but held serve with a leaping overhead smash. Bower's forehand was starting to break down and his errors opened the door a crack at 0-30. However, the Buzz kept up their knack for killing any would-be Hamptons rallies. Bower took the next four points to win the set 5-3. Afterwards, Bower disputed my general assumption that he matches up best against net rushers like Stark. "I played (Mark) Knowles once before and he beat the living daylights out of me, about two years ago. It was the worst beating I've had since I've been a pro." He did agree, however, that Stark's game "fits into mine quite nicely. I started well against him and I felt pretty good out there." OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 20, HAMPTONS 10 Fifth set -- men's doubles: Bhupathi/Bower vs. McEnroe/Stark With the Buzz's victory no longer in any real doubt, the fifth set felt like a mere formality. Bhupathi and Bower took a 2-1 lead, on serve. Their opponents looked even more subdued than the eerily quiet crowd. "Starky" calmly had some words with umpire Candy Pantano, telling her there had been "a lot of missed calls tonight." There was no real urgency in his voice, though, and his team fell behind 1-3 when McEnroe's serve was broken. It was Bower's turn to complain in the following game, when he was astonished to find himself called for a foot fault. Bower swore there was no way this could be true and proceeded to go through a demonstration of his service motion for Pantano. He repeated that show for the reporters, assuring us "it is physically, scientifically impossible" for him to foot fault. "I put my foot an inch behind the line and then I swing it and by the time I come through it's about four inches from the line. It gets further away from the line as the serve progresses. Unless the line is moving, which in some Steven Spielberg movies can happen." (The Buzz don't have a particularly animated roster this season, but Bower is emerging as a bit of a character.) Bower wound up losing that service game and Stark held at love for a 3-3 tie of the set. De Villiers and Craybas shouted encouragement from the sidelines, imploring their teammates to finish the match sooner rather than later. Bhupathi obliged with a love hold for 4-3. Shortly thereafter, the Buzz forced a match point against McEnroe. He saved it with a service winner, but Bhupathi clinched a 5-3 victory on the very next point, grunting loudly as he creamed a winning backhand return. FINAL SCORE: BUZZ 25, HAMPTONS 13 "We basically got crushed by the Buzz," McEnroe sheepishly admitted after his team's third consecutive loss. "The Buzz beat us in every set and we've been struggling." The mood was considerably more upbeat for the home team. "We all played well tonight. Tonight was decisive. Everyone did their job 100%," said Justin Bower. "Everybody seems to be getting better. If we keep winning the matches we're supposed to win and competing as hard as we can in the others, you never know, things could go our way." Next up for the 2-2 Buzz is Sunday's rematch with the Hartford FoxForce, who -- led by Monica Seles -- beat them on Thursday night. Mahesh Bhupathi is hoping to "strategize in a way that we can steal one of those three (sets Seles plays). She's a great player...so we've gotta do our homework Sunday morning." |