Sportimes take OT win as McEnroe warms up for Borg

By Nick Georgandis

The New York Sportimes bounced back in impressive fashion from their heartbreaking loss to Washington on Wednesday night, as senior member John McEnroe contributed to the match-winning point one day before he renews his rivalry with Bjorn Borg.

McEnroe and WTA legend Martina Hingis paired up to take an overtime point from Philadelphia Freedoms Nathan Healey and Lisa Raymond to secure a 21-19 road victory on Wednesday, further solidfying New York as a post-season squad.

The Sportimes are now 7-2 on the year, with five regular-season matches to play. They are firmly entrenched in second place in the Eastern Conference and got an extra bonus Wednesday night as third-place Boston fell to Springfield, dropping the Lobsters to 4-4 on the year. The top two teams in each conference make the post-season.

McEnroe will face Bjorg after Thursday night's match in an exhibition match, the first time the two rivals will square off on court since 1983. All told, the pair met on court 16 times between 1978 and 1983, with McEnroe leading the series 9-7, including a 3-1 mark in Grand Slam events.

On Wednesday night, the women carried New York. The doubles team of Hingis and Katie O'Brien took a 5-1 victory and Hingis took out Melanie Oudin 5-3 in women's singles.
Fighting to get back into post-season competition, Springfield took out Boston 23-17 to improve to 2-5 on the season. The Lasers looked like they would run away with victory, taking the first sets to jump out to a 15-7 lead. Boston took the next two sets 5-4 and 5-3 to pull within 22-17, but Springfield's player-coach John Laffnie de Jager and Rik De Voest won the first game in overtime to secure the win.