Venus rises to win

NEWPORT BEACH — In her first service receive of the night, Venus Williams buzzed a backhand winner past the Newport Beach Breakers’ Michaela Pastikova.

The second time, Williams hit another winner. The third time, she nearly nailed Pastikova in the head, the Breakers player just barely getting her racquet up in time to deflect the ball.

Williams, 27, didn’t exactly get to be the four-time Wimbledon women’s singles champion by slacking off. On Sunday, playing in her fourth and final match of the season for the defending World Team Tennis champion Philadelphia Freedoms, she showed the slumping Breakers just how potent she is.

Williams won all three sets she was a part of and the Freedoms topped Newport Beach, 21-12, before a crowd of 1,874 at Breakers Stadium. The Breakers (3-9) have lost four straight matches, while the Freedoms improve to 7-6.

The 14-time Grand Slam champion, who went from hitting on the municipal courts of Compton to arguably the best women’s player of her era, was in fine form. She played at the Breakers just two weeks after winning her fourth Wimbledon women’s singles final, becoming the lowest-seeded women’s player (No. 23) to win at the All England Club.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say it validates anything,” Williams said on Sunday at a pre-match press conference. “I don’t have anything to prove to anyone. But it feels good … I love the grass. Of the modern-day grass court players, I think that I definitely understand how to play it better than my opponents.”

She is also fine on the hard courts. Against the Breakers, she teamed up with partner Lisa Raymond for a match-opening 5-1 win in women’s doubles over Pastikova and Albanese. Williams had also played with Raymond, the No. 2-ranked women’s doubles player in the world, in the Fed Cup semifinals against Russia a week earlier.

Williams and Daniel Nestor, the defending WTT men’s MVP and part of the No. 2 men’s doubles team in the world, then defeated Pastikova and Rick Leach, 5-2, in mixed doubles.

Williams’ game impressed onlookers, who included WTT co-founder Billie Jean King. King, the longtime women’s sports activist who won six women’s singles titles at Wimbledon herself, received a standing ovation from many fans when introduced prior to the match.

“We’re so very fortunate to have Venus,” King said at a pre-match press conference. “I think she likes [WTT] because it’s community and family. Venus loves the young kids. She’s very motherly, even toward [younger sister] Serena, and they’re only 15 months apart.

“She likes the whole idea of giving back to the community. She really gets it. She continues to evolve, to grow as a human being.”

Leach and Jeff Tarango, who is playing because Ramon Delgado (right knee) is still out, were very effective in men’s doubles for the Breakers. Coming up with several big returns, they had four set points on Frederic Niemeyer, who was serving at 3-4 and lost the first three points.

But Niemeyer and Nestor, who are both a part of the Canadian Davis Cup team, won all four of those set points. They then dominated the tiebreaker, 5-2, pushing the Freedoms’ match lead to 15-7.

“It’s just kind of been that way all season,” Breakers Coach Trevor Kronemann said. “We’re not converting the break points, the 3-all points. We’re just not getting it done. In 3-all points we’re probably 30 or 40%, and that’s just not good enough. We’re getting to game point fine. But in this particular format, when you get to game point, you need to make sure you get the game won.”

The Breakers won five of 11 game points against Philadelphia.

Kronemann, who said he had never been a part of a losing season in 18 years in World Team Tennis, has two matches to go before this losing season comes to an end.

“It’s a little bit new for me, but we’re working at it,” Kronemann said. “We’re trying to win; we’re not going to throw in the towel … Every night we’ve got to begin again and start over.”

Tarango did get a 5-1 win over Niemeyer in men’s singles, giving the Breakers a sliver of hope by pulling within 16-12. The fiery Tarango, who played for the Breakers in limited action last year, pumped his fists and the crowd roared in approval.

But the last set of the night was Williams again, against Pastikova in women’s singles.

Pastikova was in many of the games, but Williams had too much pace on many of her shots. She blasted winners from both her forehand and backhand sides, winning 5-0 to seal the match.

In her three sets against the Breakers, Williams won 15 games and lost just three.

“Venus played great,” Kronemann said. “Her plus-minus was plus-12. It’s kind of like hockey; if you’re plus-12 you’re loving life. They’re tough … they just don’t have a weak set anywhere.”

The Breakers play at St. Louis on Tuesday then return home for their final match of the season Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against the New York Sportimes. Maria Sharapova will play in the match for Newport Beach, with tennis legend John McEnroe playing for New York.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at [email protected].