Vegas starts slowly, falls to Venus, Washington

Venus Williams, 40, and the Washington Kastles beat the Vegas Rollers 24-18
today in World TeamTennis. 2018 photo by Mal Taam

   A bad start doomed the Vegas Rollers today.
   Vegas fell 5-1 in women's doubles to open the World TeamTennis match, leading to a 24-18 loss to Venus Williams and the Washington Kastles at The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V. The other four sets of the match, televised on CBS, went to tiebreakers as Washington snapped a three-match losing streak.
   Williams, 40, and Arina Rodionova routed Stanford graduate Kristie Ahn and Asia Muhammad in women's doubles. Williams lost her other set, 5-4 to Ahn in women's singles.
   Vegas' Monica Puig, the gold medalist in women's singles in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, did not play against Washington (3-3) because of an undisclosed injury.
   The Rollers lost for the third time in their last four matches and finished the first half of the regular season at 3-4, tied for sixth place in the nine-team league. The top four teams advance to the playoffs, Aug. 1-2 at The Greenbrier.
   After an off-day on Monday, Vegas will seek revenge against the Orange County Breakers (2-4) on Tuesday at 4 p.m. PDT (CBS Sports Network). Orange County handed the Rollers their worst loss of the season, 25-13, on Thursday at The Greenbrier.

WASHINGTON KASTLES 24, VEGAS ROLLERS 18

   Women's doubles – Arina Rodionova and Venus Williams (Wash.) def. Kristie Ahn and Asia Muhammad 5-1.
   Mixed doubles – Bernarda Pera and Marcelo Arevalo (Wash.) def. Ahn and Mike Bryan 5-4.
   Women's singles – Ahn (LV) def. Williams 5-4.
   Men's singles – Tommy Paul (Wash.) def. Sam Querrey 5-4.
   Men's doubles – Arevalo and Nick Monroe (Wash.) def. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 5-4.