By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday July 30, 2020
The Freedoms sent a message to the Empire and the Storm surged into second place on the final day of the WTT regular season.
Photo Source: WTT
The World TeamTennis season is done and dusted.
Bring on the playoffs!
The Philadelphia Freedoms closed out another phenomenal regular season with a 23-17 victory over the New York Empire, while the Orlando Storm pulled into second place overall with their seventh straight victory, 25-15 over the Washington Kastles.
During the winning streak Jessica Pegula has been a tour de force for the Storm. The American improved to 8-1 in singles matches and she has won at least two of her three sets in each of the Orlando’s last seven matches while winning 58.8% of her games and 76.2% of sets played.
The Storm will face the Chicago Smash in Saturday’s second semi-final, at 5 PM Eastern.
First up will be the first-place Freedoms and the Empire, who met today for a dry run. Once again a pair of Taylors led the way for the Freedoms. Taylor Fritz cruised past Jack Sock 5-1 and Taylor Townsend paired with Fabrice Martin to defeat Nicole Melichar and Neal Skupski 5-3 in mixed.
“We got a lot of information from the match,” said Philadelphia coach Craig Kardon. ”We played them before but you never know what team they’re going to put out there, but we know our team and we’re comfortable with our players, and we’re really looking forward to the challenge on Saturday.”
The Freedoms finish the regular season at 12-2 while the Empire dropped to 7-7.
San Diego Aviators 23, Chicago Smash 22 (Super tiebreak)
Men's Doubles - Rajeev Ram\Brandon Nakashima (Smash) def. Jonny O’Mara\Ryan Harrison (Aviators), 5-4
Men's Singles - Harrison (Aviators) def. Nakashima (Smash), 5-4
Mixed Doubles - Ram\Bethanie Mattek-Sands (Smash) def. O’Mara\Sabine Lisicki (Aviators), 5-4
Women's Singles - Sloane Stephens (Smash) def. Christina McHale (Aviators), 5-2
Women's Doubles - McHale\Kveta Peschke (Aviators) def. Mattek-Sands\Genie Bouchard (Smash), 5-3
Extended Play - Women's Doubles - McHale\Peschke (Aviators) def. Mattek-Sands\Bouchard (Smash), 2-0
Supertiebreaker - Women's Doubles - McHale\Peschke (Aviators) def. Mattek-Sands\Bouchard (Smash), 1-0 (7-5 tiebreaker)
Springfield Lasers 21, Orange County Breakers 19
Men's Doubles - Luke Bambridge\Austin Krajicek (Breakers) def. Jean-Julien Rojer\Robert Lindstedt (Lasers), 5-4
Women's Doubles - Caty McNally\Olga Govortsova (Lasers) def. Gabriela Dabrowski\Jennifer Brady (Breakers), 5-2
Mixed Doubles - Lindstedt\McNally (Lasers) def. Steve Johnson\Brady (Breakers), 5-3 Women's Singles - Brady (Breakers) def. Govortsova (Lasers), 5-2
Men's Singles - Mitchell Krueger (Lasers) def. Johnson (Breakers), 5-4
Orlando Storm 25, Washington Kastles 15
Men’s Doubles - Ken Skupski\Tennys Sandgren (Storm) def. Nick Monroe\Marcelo Arevalo (Kastles), 5-3
Women’s Singles - Jessica Pegula (Storm) def. Venus Williams (Kastles), 5-3
Mixed Doubles - Skupski\Pegula (Storm) def. Arevalo\Bernarda Pera (Kastles), 5-4
Women’s Doubles - Darija Jurak\Pegula (Storm) def. Williams\Pera (Kastles), 5-3
Men’s Singles - Sandgren (Storm) def. Tommy Paul (Kastles), 5-2
Philadelphia Freedoms 23, New York Empire 17
Men's Singles - Taylor Fritz (Freedoms) def. Jack Sock (Empire), 5-1
Women's Singles - Coco Vandeweghe (Empire) def. Sofia Kenin (Freedoms), 5-4
Mixed Doubles - Fabrice Martin\Taylor Townsend (Freedoms) def. Neal Skupski\Nicole Melichar (Empire), 5-3
Women's Doubles - Vandeweghe\Melichar (Empire) def. Kenin\Caroline Dolehide (Freedoms), 5-4
Men's Doubles - Fritz\Martin (Freedoms) def. Sock\Skupski (Empire), 5-3
WORLD TEAMTENNIS PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
WTT Semifinals – Saturday, Aug. 1
Philadelphia Freedoms vs. New York Empire, 2 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network
Orlando Storm vs. Chicago Smash, 5 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network
WTT Final – Sunday, Aug. 2
Semifinal winners, 12 p.m. ET, CBS