Dream falls to Kastles, will visit Austin in WTT playoffs

Hall of Famer Martina Hingis helped the Wash-
ington Kastles rally to beat the California Dream.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman 

   Pack your cowboy boots, pardner.
   The California Dream of World TeamTennis is heading back to Austin, Texas.
   California lost to International Tennis Hall of Famer Martina Hingis and the host Washington Kastles 19-17 on Monday, allowing the Austin Aces to clinch the top seeding in the Western Conference playoffs.
    The second-seeded Dream (8-5), whose winning streak ended at five matches, will play at Austin (10-2) on Thursday for the Western Conference championship.
   Washington (9-3), which has won the last four WTT titles and five of the last six, will host either the Philadelphia Freedoms (5-8) or Boston Lobsters (4-8) on Thursday for the Eastern Conference title.
   The Eastern Conference champion will host the WTT Finals on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. (California time). The match will be shown live on ESPN3, with ESPN2 joining at 10 a.m.
   California is 0-3 against Austin this season, with all of the meetings taking place within four days. The Aces won 20-19 in Austin, 22-16 in the Sacramento area and 20-18 in Austin.
   Washington, which already had clinched the top seeding in the Eastern Conference, had nothing riding on Monday's match.
   In the opening set, California's Neal Skupski and Anabel Medina Garrigues beat recent Wimbledon mixed doubles champions Leander Paes and Hingis 5-3. 
   Jarka Gajdosova then routed Hingis, who plays only doubles on the women's circuit at 34 years old, 5-1 in singles to give California a whopping 10-4 deficit after two sets. But Washington won the last three sets to overtake the Dream.
   Hingis and Anastasia Rodionova dominated Gajdosova and Medina Garrigues 5-1 to cut California's lead to 15-14 entering the last set, men's singles. Sam Querrey then defeated Tennys Sandgren 5-2 to lift Washington.
   California will end its regular season on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against the San Diego Aviators (4-8) at Dream Stadium at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, Calif.

WASHINGTON KASTLES 19, CALIFORNIA DREAM 17

In Washington, D.C.

   Mixed doubles -- Neal Skupski and Anabel Medina Garrigues (Dream) def. Leander Paes and Martina Hingis 5-3.
   Women's singles -- Jarka Gajdosova (Dream) def. Martina Hingis 5-1.
   Men's doubles -- Paes and Sam Querrey (Kastles) def. Skupski and Tennys Sandgren 5-4.
   Women's doubles -- Hingis and Anastasia Rodionova (Kastles) def. Gajdosova and Medina Garrigues 5-1.
   Men's singles -- Querrey (Kastles) def. Sandgren 5-2.