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Leander Paes, Venus Williams and Anastasia Rodionova hope to hold these trophies up again.
(Photos by Camerawork USA) |
The draws are out and the Washington Kastles are seeded in all of them at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday at 6:30 am DC time on ESPN. Five different Kastles players earned seeds, led by team captain
Leander Paes.
Paes and
Radek Stepanek are seeded fifth as they seek their third Grand Slam men's doubles title together, having won the 2012 Australian Open and 2013 US Open.
In women's doubles,
Venus Williams and
Serena Williams are the No. 8 seeds despite playing only one match together in 2014. With five titles and a 38-2 record at Wimbledon, the sisters certainly deserved the special consideration they received.
Venus, also a five-time singles champion, is seeded 30th in singles and could meet new Kastle and No. 18 seed
Sloane Stephens in the fourth round.
Fellow Kastles
Anastasia Rodionova (No. 11 seed in women's doubles) and
Kevin Anderson (No. 20 seed in men's singles) will be eager to break through at a major, while wild card
Martina Hingis returns to Wimbledon on a hot streak.
Hingis and first-time partner
Flavia Pennetta defeated three former Grand Slam championship teams to reach the final of the Wimbledon warm-up event in Eastbourne:
* 2013 French Open champions
Ekaterina Makarova and
Elena Vesnina* 2011 US Open champions
Liezel Huber and
Lisa Raymond* 2011 Wimbledon champions
Kveta Peschke and
Katarina SrebotnikVenus, Stephens and Anderson are playing their first-round singles matches on Monday. Men's and women's doubles play gets underway on Wednesday, which is also when the mixed doubles draw will be revealed. For Kastles updates including links to live streaming, live scoring and the TV schedule, please visit
WashingtonKastles.com.
Here's what you should expect as the Kastles play their final tournament before their Mylan World TeamTennis season opener in Boston on July 7.
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| (Photo by Willis Bretz) |
LEANDER PAES
Last year, Paes was one set from reaching the Wimbledon men's doubles final for the first time since 1999. Two-time champions
Daniel Nestor &
Nenad Zimonjic could be a big test for Paes & Stepanek in the quarterfinals. The good news is that Australian Open champs
Lukasz Kubot &
Robert Lindstedt, French Open champs
Julien Benneteau &
Edouard Roger-Vasselin and World No. 1s
Bob &
Mike Bryan are on the other half of Paes' draw.
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| (Photo by Kevin Koski) |
All signs point to a third-round singles showdown between Venus and No. 6 seed
Petra Kvitova, a pair of former Wimbledon champions. Kvitova leads their head-to-head 3-1 and all four matches have gone three sets. In doubles, Venus & Serena are the only past championship team on the bottom half of the draw. No. 6 seeds
Ashleigh Barty &
Casey Dellacqua, the 2013 finalists, could meet the Williams sisters in the semifinals.
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| (Photo by Rich Kessler) |
ANASTASIA RODIONOVA
Rodionova &
Alla Kudryavtseva, a 2013 Kastles substitute, are 17-11 this season. But they have lost five straight matches and are 0-2 at Grand Slams in 2014. They could turn the tide by defeating
Yanina Wickmayer &
Shuai Zhang in the first round of Wimbledon. If Rodionova can reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the third time, she and Kudryavtseva will likely run into reigning champions and No. 1 seeds
Su-Wei Hsieh &
Shuai Peng.
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| (Photo by Susan Mullane of Camerawork USA) |
Stephens will aim to advance to the fourth round of her seventh straight Grand Slam. To get there, she will likely have to defeat No. 12 seed
Flavia Pennetta in the third round. Pennetta edged the 21-year-old American en route to the Indian Wells title in March. Should Stephens reverse that result, she could meet Venus or Kvitova in the fourth round. Stephens pushed eventual champion
Marion Bartoli in the 2013 Wimbledon quarters before falling 6-4, 7-5.
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| (Photo by Willis Bretz) |
After reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open and French Open in each of the last two years, Anderson is still seeking his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. What's holding him back? The World No. 18 is 0-12 against Top 10 players at the majors. If he makes the fourth round at Wimbledon, a date with defending champ and No. 3 seed
Andy Murray would likely await. Upsetting Murray could change Anderson's luck, and career, forever.
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| (Photo by Fred Mullane of Camerawork USA) |
Hingis & Vera Zvonareva were dealt a difficult draw, starting with No. 4 seeds Cara Black & Sania Mirza in the opening round. Hingis is 1-1 against Black & Mirza in 2014. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova & Lucie Safarova, who defeated Hingis & Sabine Lisicki in Madrid, may be waiting in Round 2. And don't look now, but Venus & Serena Williams are in the same quarter as Hingis & Zvonareva, who will have no time to adjust in their first event as a team.
Remember, when the Kastles win at Wimbledon, so do you!
From the first round through the quarterfinals, we'll give away a '47 Brand Kastles hat to one of our Twitter followers every time a Kastles player advances ($25 value).
Then, if a Kastles player wins a semifinal or final at Wimbledon, we'll up the ante with two tickets and VIP access to the July 9 Kastles home opener against the Boston Lobsters ($100+ value).
All you have to do is retweet posts on
Twitter that describe a Kastles victory. Our first hat winner was named on June 17 following
Bobby Reynolds' first-round qualifying victory. Congratulations,
Tim Mikulski (@tim_mik)!
