Breakers defeat Smash for title

In staggering heat and humidity, the Newport Beach Breakers defeated

the Delaware Smash, 23-17, to capture the team’s first King Trophy

and win the World Team Tennis championship Saturday at the United

States Tennis Association National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows,

N.Y.

The Breakers, who advanced to Saturday’s final with a stunning

20-12 defeat of the five-time World Team Tennis champion Sacramento

Capitals in Friday’s Western Conference semifinal, won four of five

matches. Ramon Delgado, who was named as the league finals MVP,

closed out the match with a decisive 5-1 men’s singles victory over

Delaware’s Rajeev Ram.

Delaware’s David Wheaton, together with doubles standout Liezel

Huber, defeated Ellis Ferreira and Nana Miyagi of Newport Beach, 5-3,

for the mixed doubles opening event.

Newport Beach came back with a vengeance in women’s doubles with

Aniko Kapros and Nana Miyagi. Kapros’ consistency and Miyagi’s net

experience led the Newport Beach duo to a 5-4 win over Samantha

Reeves and Huber.

Delgado and Ferreira of the Breakers used their strong net play to

defeat Wheaton and Rajeev Ram, 5-4. In women’s singles, Kapros ran

Reeves from side to side for a 5-3 win to set the stage for the final

set of men’s singles.

Delgado, a former Davis Cup performer for Paraguay, dominated Ram

for a quick 5-1 win to give the Breakers the World Team Tennis title

in only their second year in the league.

Newport Beach, coached by former USC men’s tennis coach Dick

Leach, was awarded the league’s 10th franchise in the spring of 2003

and played last year with up-and-coming teenage sensation Maria

Sharapova. The Breakers finished with a 7-7 record and did not make

the playoffs.

This year, the Breakers finished the regular season 8-6 and in

second place in the Western Conference. Sharapova, whose star power

took off dramatically after she won Wimbledon this year, played for

the Breakers only once this summer -- against the Sacramento Capitals

July 14 at the Palisades Tennis Club. The Capitals finished the

regular season 13-1.

The Breakers, who lost to Sacramento in three other meetings this

season, including twice in the final week of the season, stunned the

Capitals in the World Team Tennis semifinals on Friday, 20-12, to

advance to Saturday’s title match. Delaware upset Eastern Conference

champion Hartford, 22-14, in the other semifinal.

Prior to last year, Newport Beach hosted a World Team Tennis

franchise for five years from 1990 through ’94 and won the Western

Conference title three times (1992-94). The team, called the Dukes,

lost in the league finals in 1992 and ’93 to Atlanta and Wichita,

respectively, and lost in the semifinals to Idaho in ’94.

Following the ’94 season, Dukes owner Fred Lieberman sold the

franchise back to league, which is founded by Billie Jean King.