Breakers broken by Weiner

For four sets, the Newport Beach Breakers did everything they needed

to do in order to move into a tie for first place in the Western

Conference early in the 2003 World Team Tennis season.

But host Springfield saved its best for last and Glenn Weiner

defeated Brian MacPhie in men’s singles in the final set of the night

to lift the Lasers to a 19-18 victory over the Breakers at the Cooper

Tennis Complex, keeping Springfield undefeated and atop the Western

Conference standings.

Springfield determined the order of play and did so wisely by

holding Weiner’s two matches, which included men’s doubles, until the

end of the night.

Newport Beach (1-2) led 13-9 after the first three sets, but

Weiner combined with Andrew Kratzman to defeat MacPhie and Josh Eagle

in men’s doubles, 5-3, cutting the deficit to 16-14.

Still, the worst case scenario for the Breakers would have been a

super tiebreaker if MacPhie had managed to steal three games from

Weiner in the final set.

Instead, Weiner prevailed 5-2 to lead the Lasers (3-0) to the

come-from-behind victory.

The Breakers jumped out to a big lead at the start with Maria

Sharapova’s 5-1 victory over Anastasia Myskina, ranked 10th in the

world. Sharapova, who jumped from 91st to 56th on the WTA rankings

after reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon, also prevailed against

Mysinka in women’s doubles, teaming with Eva Dyrberg to defeat

Mysinka and Nana Miyagi 5-3.

In between Sharapova’s two victories, Springfield pulled out the

mixed doubles match with Kratzman and Miyagi prevailing over Dyrberg

and Eagle, 5-3.

The Breakers return to the court tonight at Kansas City before

returning home to Palisades Tennis Club on Saturday for a rematch

with Springfield. Lindsay Davenport is scheduled to play her second

and final match for the Breakers that night.