NEW YORK (July 24, 2010) –
Abigail Spears helped win three events and Robert Kendrick two as the New York Sportimes defeated the Boston Lobsters 22-17 Friday night at SPORTIME at Randall’s Island to win the 2010 WTT Eastern Conference Championship.
The Sportimes will now hit the road and travel to Kansas City to take on the Western Conference Champion Kansas City Explorers Sunday (7:35 EDT), with the winner taking home the 35
th WTT Championship and the Billie Jean King Cup. The final will be shown on tape on July 28 on The Tennis Channel .
Friday night’s matches came indoors, with torrential rain forcing play off the Sportimes home court and into the $19 million dollar indoor facility, where a loud and enthusiastic capacity crowd saw Spears win women’s singles, as well as mixed and women’s doubles, while Kendrick took home mixed and men’s doubles (with Jesse Witten) to secure the victory and the trip to Kansas City.
The team had to fly cross country for the match, after finishing the regular season in Newport Beach, California Thursday night (posting a narrow 23-22 win over the Newport Beach Breakers, with Kendrick sealing the deal with a 5-4 singles win in the final event).
The Sportimes will be playing for the title for the second time.
They won the 2005 title, 21-18 over the Newport Beach Breakers.
FRIDAY RESULTS BY EVENT NEW YORK SPORTIMES def. Boston Lobsters 22-17Men’s Doubles – Robert KendrickJesse Witten (Sportimes) def. Eric ButoracJan-Michael Gambill (Lobsters) 5-2
Women’s Doubles – Ashley HarkleroadAbigail Spears (Sportimes) def. Raquel Kops-JonesCoco Vandeweghe (Lobsters) 5-3
Men’s Singles –
Jan-Michael Gambill (Lobsters) def. Robert Kendrick (Sportimes) 5-4
Women’s Singles –
Abigail Spears (Sportimes) def. Coco Vandeweghe (Lobsters) 5-1
Mixed Doubles – Eric ButoracRaquel Kops-Jones (Lobsters) def. Robert KendrickAbigail Spears (Sportimes) 5-2
Overtime – Mixed Doubles – Robert KendrickAbigail Spears (Sportimes) tied Eric ButoracRaquel Kops-Jones (Lobsters) 1-1
For more details and live scoring Sunday, visit