San Diego returns to WTT; Mayo wins title

Mark Knowles of the host Sacramento Capitals serves
to Bob Bryan, left, and Mike Bryan of the Texas Wild
during a World TeamTennis match last July.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   The Sacramento Capitals will have an intrastate rival in World TeamTennis this season after all.
   The league announced in November that entrepreneur Lorne Abony purchased the Orange County Breakers, moved them to Austin, Texas, and renamed them the Aces. Austin resident Andy Roddick will play for the team, based at the Cedar Park Center.
   WTT revealed on Thursday that San Diego businessman Russell Geyer bought the New York Sportimes and relocated them to the Southern California city, where they will be known as the Aviators. A home venue will be announced in a few weeks.
   The league will return to San Diego for the first time since the Friars played in the 1970s and 1980s. Austin will debut in the league.
   WTT will hold its annual marquee player draft on Feb. 11 and roster player draft on March 11. The league's 39th season will begin July 6 and end with the WTT Finals on July 27.
   The Capitals have won a record six WTT titles but none since 2007. The Washington Kastles last year joined Sacramento as the only teams to earn three straight crowns. The Capitals won four straight from 1997 through 2000.
   Each WTT team is comprised of at least two men, two women and a coach. Team matches consist of five sets, with one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.
   The first team to reach five games wins each set. One point is awarded for each game won, and a nine-point tiebreaker is played if a set reaches 4-4. If necessary, overtime and a supertiebreaker are played to determine the overall winner of the match.
   WTT innovations include instant replay, a coed format, cumulative and no-ad scoring, on-court coaching and timeouts, overtime and supertiebreakers, multicolored courts and player names on the back of shirts.
   For more information, visit www.wtt.com.
   Juniors -- Fourth-seeded Roscoe Bellamy of Pacific Palisades and Keenan Mayo of Roseville topped third-seeded Nicola Kuhn of Germany and Carlos Sanchez Jover of Spain 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to win the Nike Junior International Teen Tennis boys 14 doubles title.
   Pacific Palisades and Roseville are suburbs of Los Angeles and Sacramento, respectively.
   Mayo fell in the singles quarterfinals.

THURSDAY'S COLLEGE RESULTS

Men

   Hawaii Pacific def. Sacramento State 7-0 in Honolulu. No. 1 singles: Petr Michnev (HP) def. Marek Marksoo 7-6 (5), 6-2. Notes: Michnev, from Ivan Lendl's hometown of Ostrava in the Czech Republic, is ranked No. 2 nationally in Division II. Marksoo, a junior from Estonia, was named the Big Sky Conference co-MVP last season. He lost a singles dual match for just the seventh time in college. Team records: Hawaii Pacific 1-0, Sac State 0-1.

 Women

   No. 65 San Jose State def. Hawaii 5-2 in Honolulu. No. 1 singles: Cindy Nguyen (H) def. Marie Klocker 6-0, 6-1. Note: The Spartans' Gaelle Rey, a freshman from Geneva, Switzerland, won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. Team records: San Jose State (1-1), Hawaii (1-2).