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by Christopher Gerby World Team Tennis founder Billie Jean King sure picked a doozy of a match to attend. In truth, King's plans to visit Schenectady and honor Nitty Singh on her 10th anniversary as a WTT franchise owner were made months ago, before anyone could have known the 1-8 New York Sportimes would be even more hapless than the 3-6 Buzz. In fact, two of those three Buzz victories had come on the road against their intrastate rivals, including a 22-19 Buzz win on Saturday. Their final meeting of the season was hardly a special occasion, but these are pretty momentous days in the life of Buzz wunderkind Viktoriya Kutuzova. The Ukranian who calls herself Russian is about to become an American. Kutuzova announced on Monday night that she's getting the paperwork in order for U.S. citizenship. "I decided it a week ago," says Viktoriya. "Really, a week ago, and they say it's gonna be quick. I hope that the USTA and some persons will help me with this, do it quick, and I will play Olympic Games in 2008 for the U.S." First set: men's singles -- Justin Bower vs. Hermes Gamonal The one thing the inconsistent Buzz have been able to count on lately is Justin Bower's howitzer serve. He won the first four games of this event in the blink of an eye. Hermes Gamonal was understandably in a foul mood, especially a noise (caused by "mechanical failure") came from the DJ booth right before his second serve on the last point of Game 4. Well beaten and fed up, Gamonal sat down at his chair and stayed put. Sportimes coach John Roddick (yup, Andy's older brother) apparently had no choice but to send Joe Sirianni in as a substitute. Sirianni barely got a racquet on the ball as Bower served out the bagel at love. OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 5, SPORTIMES 0 Second set: women's doubles -- Kutuzova/Stewart vs. Bielik/Dragomir Foot, knee, and attitude problems have made a real mess of Bea Bielik's promising WTA Tour career. She's even been benched as the women's singles player for the Sportimes. Bielik can still bring the heat on her serve, though, and she got the Sportimes on the board for the first time with a love hold. "The Lady Buzz" were playing almost as well as Justin Bower, though. They broke Ruxandra Dragomir for a 2-1 lead and remained impenetrable in their own service games. Viktoriya Kutuzova served it out at love, 5 games to 3. OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 10, SPORTIMES 3 Third set: women's singles -- Viktoriya Kutuzova vs. Ruxandra Dragomir Umpire Candy Pantano's complete inability to pronounce Viktoriya Kutuzova's last name was a running joke that didn't seem so funny to "Vicky" herself, who kept correcting Pantano. By any name, Kutuzova was off to a sketchy start here, falling behind 0-2 against solid veteran Ruxandra "Ruxy" Dragomir. Kutuzova has a weird way of attracting rainfall, however, and she was able to regroup in the players' trailer when a 45-minute rain delay got underway. Billie Jean King and roughly a quarter of the crowd had left by the time Dragomir returned to the court and extended her lead to 4-0. A funny thing happened on Dragomir's way to an easy win -- Kutuzova heated up faster than Vinnie "Microwave" Johnson. The 15-year-old spanked four winners in a row, breaking at love. Kutuzova added a hold for 2-4, much to the delight of some adolescent boys who'd snuck into the courtside VIP section for a closer look. The smitten kids shouted words of encouragement like "c'mon Vicky!" as Kutuzova cracked a few more winners in a break for 3-4. Kutuzova was changing up her strokes like a veteran, pinning Dragomir to the baseline and then pulling her across the rain-slicked court with heartless drop shots. She went to the dropper two points in a row en route to holding for 4-4, bringing up the evening's first tiebreak... Dragomir displayed the poise of a 30-something veteran in salvaging the set, but Kutuzova's rally from 0-4 to 4-4 earned her a huge ovation from what was left of the crowd. In the teenager's mind, it wasn't even a loss. "For me it was win. I don't care about the score...I was fighting to the end and I'm really happy with my game today." Kutuzova's serve remains shaky, but her will is unquestionable. Viktoriya's even competitive enough to put her opponent's health at risk, as she admitted when I asked why she was peppering Dragomir with drop shots. "It was wet. I feel sorry for her, because she could have injury, but it was, like, tactic." OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 14, SPORTIMES 8 Fourth set: mixed doubles -- Bower/Stewart vs. Sirianni/Bielik Justin Bower's red hot play of late might be contagious, judging by Bryanne Stewart's performance in mixed doubles. Stewart's form has been all over the place this season, but she finally put it all together here, serving well and putting away anything in her vicinity at the net. Joe Sirianni managed to squeak out a service hold at 0-4 down to make things respectable, but Bower handily served out the 5-1 triumph. OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 19, SPORTIMES 9 Fifth set: men's doubles -- Bower/Rudman vs. Gamonal/Sirianni Is any lead safe for the Buzz men's doubles tandem? That question would be put to the test here, as Hermes Gamonal and Joe Sirianni would need to win the set, force overtime, and win enough games in a row to erase what currently stood as a ten game deficit. It looked like a lost cause when Bower launched an ace to clinch a set-opening love hold. Things turned weird and rather ugly after that, however. First a lineswoman had to be helped off the court after taking a Joe Sirianni serve on the chin. Then it was Bower catching Gamonal square in the ribs with one of his own rocket serves. "Sorry, man. Sorry, dude," said Justin before umpire Candy Pantano chimed in with "We need Band Aids on this court." Later in the same game, Gamonal tagged Bower in the back! Intentional or not, all of this headhunting was working out for the Sportimes. Gamonal closed out an easy 5-1 win on his own serve. OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 20, SPORTIMES 14 The miracle comeback a few visiting Sportimes fans had been joking about throughout the set was looking less impossible now, especially with Buzz weakest link Shaun Rudman stepping to the service line. A winning lob for Sirianni got the visitors to 30-30 in the first game of overtime. A winning pass by Gamonal earned break points at 30-40. Rudman thrived in a similar spot against Springfield last week, though, and he was clutch again here. Two service winners in a row brought this match to a merciful conclusion. FINAL SCORE: BUZZ 21, SPORTIMES 14 (OT) "All our players match up well against them," said Justin Bower after his Buzz completed a season sweep of the Sportimes. Bower labeled his own play "awesome" and Bryanne Stewart's performance "unreal," but admitted it's been a rough go for his pal Shaun Rudman. "I feel bad for Shaun, only getting to play one set a night. He's coming off the bench ice cold. After watching for three hours, he has to get ready to get up and play in, like, five minutes." Despite the success in overtime, taking a 5-1 loss in men's doubs clearly stung for Bower. "I have to say, we've been doing f***in' horrendous in doubles. We need to change something, ya know?" Maybe they can get some tips from one of the greatest doubles players of all time: Martina Navratilova makes her only home court appearance with the Buzz on Wednesday night. |