Freedoms fall to Springfield in World TeamTennis final

Four games into the final set of Sunday's World TeamTennis final, Springfield Lasers rookie Miomir Kecmanovic found himself and his team in a hole.

Another two points by the Freedoms' Kevin King, and Philadelphia would be celebrating a championship victory at Drexel's Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Instead, Kecmanovic reeled off four straight wins to claim the set and earn a 19-18 victory for the Lasers' first WTT title in franchise history.

"It was a tough situation, but I tried to stay calm," Kecmanovic said. "I tried to fight and thought I could still do it and in the end I somehow managed to come through."

The Freedoms dug themselves into an early hole as Kecmanovic and men's doubles partner Marcelo Demoliner came from behind to beat Philadelphia's King and Fabrice Martin, 5-3, in the first match of the day.

Springfield's women's doubles pair of Vania King and Abigail Spears expanded the lead to 10-5 with a 5-2 victory against Philadelphia's Taylor Townsend and Raquel Atawo, the top-ranked women's team in the league.

"I huddled everybody and actually a good friend said, 'You guys aren't having fun,' " said Philadelphia coach Craig Kardon, who won a WTT title with the team in 2006. "We tried to change up our camaraderie, our mood, to have fun on the court, and I think that made a big difference."

The first game of mixed doubles was a momentum changer for the Freedoms. After clinching the point with a powerful forehand, Martin urged the crowd to make some noise. Martin and a fiery Townsend rode the fans' energy to a 5-2 victory against Demoliner and Spears, which cut the Freedoms' deficit to 12-10.

Townsend, who entered Sunday unbeaten in singles, continued where she and Martin left off when she stepped back onto the court. She defeated King, 5-2, to give the Freedoms a 15-14 lead heading into the final set.

King, the league's male rookie of the year, came on to seal the deal for the Freedoms against Kecmanovic. He won three of the first four games of the final set to put Philadelphia up 18-15 and looked poised to finish off the win.

The two battled in the next four games, but Kecmanovic won four in a row to earn the victory for the Lasers.

"The first few games were unbelievable and it was great tennis, but as you know there's a lot at stake," Kardon said. "It's just a matter of who holds it better at the end.

"That's what team tennis is. It's a group effort. There's no blame. We were in a position to win and we had position to win, and we just didn't win. But I'm very proud of the players and very proud of the season that we had."