Despite losing the last set 5-2, 15-year-old Tammy Hendler starred for the Capitals on Saturday night.
Hendler won just enough games against Madison Brengle, 18, in the set to send the World TeamTennis match to overtime and held serve once to give visiting Sacramento a 20-18 victory over the Delaware Smash.
Both Brengle, from Dover, Del., and Hendler, a native South African who plays for Belgium and trains in Florida, have been ranked among the top five girls in the world.
Brengle was the runner-up in girls singles at Wimbledon and the Australian Open last year. Hendler reached the girls singles semifinals at Wimbledon early this month.
Brengle's victory over Hendler cut Sacramento's lead to 19-18 after regulation. Because the Capitals led entering the last set and lost it, play continued in women's singles until either Sacramento won one more game or Delaware tied the score, in which case a Supertiebreaker would have decided the match. Hendler, though, quickly ended it.
"I was still shaking after the last game because I wanted to win it so bad," Hendler said.
The defending champion Capitals ended their East Coast trip 2-1 and evened their season record at 6-6. They will end the regular season with home matches against the Boston Lobsters (6-6) Tuesday night and the New York Sportimes (9-2) Wednesday night.
– Paul Bauman
