Capitals start slowly, lose seventh straight

   This one was over by intermission.
   The Sacramento Capitals got off to a terrible start and lost to the host Boston Lobsters 19-15 in overtime in a World TeamTennis match on Friday.
   The Capitals (3-7) have lost seven consecutive matches, leaving them on the verge of elimination from playoff contention. They have four regular-season matches left, three on the road.
   Sacramento trailed 15-5 at intermission, a virtually impossible deficit to overcome. The Capitals rallied to pull within 18-15 after regulation, but former Capital Eric Butorac and Amir Weintraub won the first game of overtime for the victory.
   The match went into overtime because Sacramento's Mark Knowles and Ryan Sweeting won the last set. To prevent late sets from being meaningless, league rules state that the team leading after four sets must win the final set to end the match. Otherwise, it continues until 1) the trailing team ties the match, in which case it goes to a Supertiebreaker, or 2) the leading team wins one game.
   Taylor Townsend, 17, is scheduled to return to action in Sacramento's next match, Sunday at Orange County (6-4). Townsend, the runner-up in Wimbledon junior girls singles two weeks ago, has missed the Capitals' past five matches with a strained abdominal muscle.
   Hibi upsets top seed -- Mayo Hibi upset top-seeded Lauren Davis 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 earlier this week in the first round of the Women's $50,000 Oregon Challenger in Portland.
   Hibi, a 17-year-old amateur, won the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area two weeks ago. Davis, a 5-foot-2 (1.57-meter) American, is ranked 88th in the world. It was Hibi's first match against a top-100 player.
   Hibi, an Irvine, Calif., resident who plays for her native Japan, lost to seventh-seeded Grace Min of Lawrenceville, Ga.,  4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Oregon Challenger.

BOSTON 19, CAPITALS 15 (OT)

In Manchester, Mass.

   Men's singles -- Amir Weintraub (Boston) def. Ryan Sweeting, 5-2.
   Women's singles -- Jill Craybas (Boston) def. Olga Govortsova, 5-1.
   Mixed doubles -- Eric Butorac and Katalin Marosi (Boston) def. Mark Knowles and Megan Moulton-Levy, 5-2.
   Women's doubles -- Govortsova and Moulton-Levy (Capitals) def. Craybas and Marosi, 5-2.
   Men's doubles -- Knowles and Sweeting (Capitals) def. Butorac and Weintraub, 5-1.
   Overtime -- Butorac and Weintraub (Boston) def. Knowles and Sweeting, 1-0.