TEAM TENNIS : Kronemann Helps Lay Waste to the Dukes

An old friend returned to his stomping grounds Thursday night. And we do mean stomping. After all, hardly anything Trevor (Tank) Kronemann does on a tennis court could be called subtle.

He rolled onto familiar turf and dealt his old college coach his worst TeamTennis defeat in three years as the San Antonio Racquets routed the Newport Beach Dukes, 27-13, before 1,200 at the John Wayne Tennis Club.

It was a sweet homecoming for Kronemann, a four-time All-American for Coach Greg Patton at UC Irvine. If it had been anyone else blasting those blistering serves at his Dukes, Patton would have called Thursday’s loss a nightmare. Besides, it wasn’t as if he didn’t know what was coming.

“I called him about a week ago and told him I was going to beat up on him pretty bad,” Kronemann said, laughing. “We got a quick start and kept rolling. Coach taught me well.”

Kronemann and Louise Allen won the opening mixed doubles set, 6-2, over the Dukes’ Ronnie Bathman and Katrina Adams and the rout was on. Later, Kronemann teamed with Jean-Philippe Fleurian to win the men’s doubles over Bathman and Rikard Bergh, 6-3, to close out San Antonio’s second victory in as many nights. The Dukes are 0-1.

“I might have a fast start to Boise, Idaho,” Patton groused when it was over. He resigned his position at Irvine and accepted a job at Boise State this past spring.

“The Tank comes home and he’s got the crowd behind him,” Patton continued. “They (San Antonio) were halfway around the field and we were just getting our spikes into the starting blocks.

“Tank must have seen some guru before he came here. He was hitting everything. I wish he were playing for me. He’s always pumped right from the first game.”

Patton and Kronemann have always had a special bond. Perhaps it’s the nickname. No matter where he plays, Kronemann said people know him as Tank.

“In every corner of the United States, it’s Tank, Tank, Tank,” he said of the moniker Patton hung on him when he was a 250-pound freshman. “Last year (playing for) Charlotte, they did some promotions with a motorized toy tank on the court.”

In other sets:

Ginger Helgeson of San Antonio had little trouble defeating Adams in women’s singles, 6-1. Helgeson broke Adams twice and led, 4-0, before Adams finally got something going. But by then, it was too late to mount any challenge.

Most likely it was the last time Adams will play singles for the Dukes. Amy Frazier, who reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon and figures to get the nod most nights, was playing in Japan Thursday.

Lise Gregory, subbing for Frazier, and Adams got the one break they needed in the eighth game and defeated Helgeson and Allen, 6-3, in the women’s doubles set.

Fleurian overwhelmed Bergh, 6-1, in the men’s singles set, recording three aces in the final game.

The Dukes play at Sacramento Saturday and at Vail, Colo., Tuesday before returning home to face Atlanta and Martina Navratilova Thursday.