Breakers keyed by own ‘A-Rod’

Chris Yemma

The fans know her as “A-Rod,” but this athlete wields a different

type of stick.

Her name is Anastassia Rodionova, and she played a key role in the

Newport Beach Breakers’ 19-16 World Team Tennis victory over visiting

Houston Thursday at Palisades Tennis Club.

The Russian-born 23-year-old, perhaps somewhat overlooked with the

anticipation of fellow Russian teammate Maria Sharapova making her

Breakers debut Saturday, has been a mainstay for Newport Beach all

season.

With the Breakers (8-4) trailing, 10-4, Thursday after Katerina

Bondarenko was defeated, 5-1, in her women’s singles match, the mixed

doubles team of Rodionova and Ramon Delgado pulled out a 5-0 victory

to pull the team within a 10-9 margin.

And directly following, Rodionova and Bondarenko earned a 5-3

women’s doubles victory over the Wranglers’ duo of Edina Gallovits

and Ansley Cargill to push the team ahead, 14-13.

“[Rodionova] and [Delgado] knew they had to get us back in there,”

Breakers’ Coach Dick Leach said about the mixed doubles duo. “The

[season] doesn’t even matter if we don’t win this.”

Delgado, who has acted as a closer for home matches, succeeded in

holding Newport Beach’s advantage, defeating Ryan Newport, 5-3, in

men’s singles -- the evening’s last match.

The victory moves the team within a match of Western

Conference-leading Sacramento and a half-match back of second-place

St. Louis. Just two regular-season matches remain -- Saturday against

visiting St. Louis and Sunday against visiting Sacramento.

The top two teams from both the Western and Eastern conferences

qualify for the playoffs.

Houston fell to 2-10 and is currently last in the Western

Conference.

Sharapova will be playing her lone match for the Breakers at 7

p.m. Saturday at Palisades.