TeamTennis : Bonder and Teltscher Help Strings Beat Boston in Opener, 28-26

With the help of antic-filled victories by Lisa Bonder and Eliot Teltscher, the Los Angeles Strings opened their 1986 TeamTennis season Saturday night by beating the Boston Bays, 28-26, at the Forum.

The match went into overtime with the Strings leading, 27-23, but the men’s doubles team of Eliot Teltscher and Steve Meister finally put away Butch Walts and Owen Davidson after losing three straight games. Boston, which won the men’s and women’s doubles, fell to 0-2 in the standings.

Bonder beat a sometimes-diving, sometimes-tanking Andrea Jaeger in women’s singles, 6-3. Once the third-ranked player in the world, Jaeger broke Bonder at 2-1 with an untouchable backhand that flew past Bonder at the net.

Bonder, ranked 31st in the world, won the next three games. Often, all she had to do was keep the ball in play. Jaeger was placing her groundstrokes near the lines, but only when stationary. When beckoned to move, Jaeger consistently found the net or the doubles’ part of the court.

Down, 3-2, and serving, Jaeger lost on four unforced errors. Not surprisingly, her temperament flip-flopped again as she broke Bonder in the next game, winning at 40-40 on a long rally.

In the final two games, however, Bonder won all but one point as Jaeger argued with the officials, then on set point, intentionally sprayed Bonder’s serve beyond the court. Relatively quiet until that point, the crowd of 1,203 booed Jaeger’s effort.

Teltscher had antics, too. When a linesman on the other side of the court called Teltscher for his second foot-fault of the night, the 1985 U.S. Davis Cup member sent a biting forehand in his direction.

His serve-and-volley game were just as disarming, as he went on to win, 6-5. Teltscher took a 3-1 lead, breaking Walts in the second game. Walts moved back to 3-3, tying it on a Teltscher backhand that fell wide.

An erratic backhand was more the problem of Walts, though. He broke Teltscher, then went up, 5-4, winning on a strong deep serve at 40-40 that Teltscher netted.

Teltscher forced the tiebreaker with the help of three unforced errors by Walts.

Up 3-2 in the tiebreaker, Walts put a backhand into the net on his serve but then won the next point. Teltscher put a deep forehand down the right line beyond Walts’ reach to tie, then won it with a cross-court backhand volley at the net.

In men’s doubles, both teams broke each other once en route to going 5-5 and causing a nine-point tiebreaker. In it, Teltscher and Boston’s Owen Davidson held serve to go 2-2. But Boston went on to win, 5-4, on a Walts ace.

Boston took the women’s doubles, 6-4, with both teams breaking the other’s serve three times in the first eight games. Jaeger and Paula Smith of Boston took at 2-0 lead, were tied, 2-2, then broke both Bonder and Penny Barg to go up, 5-2. The Strings closed to 5-4, but Jaeger held serve to win.

Teltscher and Bonder were even at 3-3 with Walts and Smith in mixed doubles but went on to win, 6-3.