Breakers win again in OT

Rick Devereux

For the second night in a row, the Newport Beach Breakers (2-0)

needed extra time to win a World Team Tennis match.

On the heels of a super tiebreaker win over the Springfield

Lasers, the Breakers disposed of the St. Louis Aces, 22-16, in

overtime at the Palisades Tennis Club Tuesday.

“The win is the most important thing,” said Ramon Delgado, the

Breakers’ men’s doubles and singles player. “It doesn’t matter if

it’s 5-0 or if it’s a super tiebreaker. A win is a win.”

Delgado, the hero who extended the Laser match and finally gave

the Breakers the 21-20 victory, was once again responsible for

closing the door on the contest by beating Brian Wilson of the Aces

(0-1) in overtime.

Delgado entered the men’s singles match with an 18-11 advantage, thanks to a 5-1 victory in the mixed doubles, a 5-3 win in the

women’s doubles, and a 5-2 victory in the women’s singles.

“It’s great to win on your home court,” women’s singles and

doubles player Aniko Kapros said.

Kapros dominated her singles set against Tatiana Panova, winning

two of the five games without allowing a point.

“I just came back from Wimbledon,” Kapros said, regarding

preparing for this match. “I was without my luggage, but the Breakers

gave me shoes for [the match against Springfield].”

Kapros and team mate Nana Miyagi pulled out the 5-3 victory in

women’s doubles with a mixture of strong net and baseline play and a

little bit of St. Louis errors.

Miyagi had strong showings on the baseline, slicing shots

cross-court to set up the Aces into returning the ball to Kapros at

the net. But what really hurt St. Louis were errors. Panova had 10

unforced errors combined in her singles and doubles sets, including

two double faults. Overall, the Aces gave up six points due to double

faults.

“That’s good for us,” Kapros said of the St. Louis mistakes.

The Breakers travel to Springfield for a rematch against the

Lasers on Thursday.