TEAMTENNIS : Dukes Beat Sacramento, Reach West Division Final

With their women’s doubles team taking a hoped-for big lead early, the Newport Beach Dukes defeated the Sacramento Capitals, 28-19, in a World TeamTennis West Division semifinal playoff match Tuesday in front of 842 at the John Wayne Tennis Club.

The victory advanced the Dukes to Thursday’s West Division final at Vail. The teams split two regular-season matches, with each team winning on its home court.

“We’re out of the woods, but we’re in the mountains,” Dukes Coach Greg Patton said. “We were so loose in practice (Tuesday) and when they get loose, I get crazy and so nervous. They came out and played awesome tennis.”

Sacramento--which was 8-6 and third in the division during the regular season--was playing without Fountain Valley’s Debbie Graham, who missed the match because of a case of the chicken pox.

With Graham, Patty Fendick and Kimberly Po, who filled in when Graham missed the early part of the season because she was in the Federation Cup, the Capitals had the league’s best record (.563 winning percentage) in women’s doubles. But without Graham, what had been a great advantage for Sacramento turned into a great advantage for the Dukes.

As the home coach, Patton determined the order of play, and put women’s doubles first.

“The first set was the entire key,” Patton said. “With Debbie not playing, I felt if they did well against our women, that would have applied more pressure to us.”

In place of Graham, Sacramento used Ann Henricksson, 32, who has won four doubles titles during her 11-year professional career, including one with Fendick. But Henricksson had not played a TeamTennis match all season, and the Dukes sought to exploit her unfamiliarity with the unique format.

“That was a tough position to put Ann Henricksson in, not being used to the format and intensity,” Patton said. “I felt sorry for her. We put her out there right away and it worked out perfectly for us.”

Amy Frazier and Lise Gregory teamed to win the first four games. Sacramento broke Gregory’s serve in the fifth game, but the Dukes’ duo broke Fendick in the next game and Frazier held for a 6-1 victory.

“You give us a lead and we run with it,” Patton said.

Frazier increased the margin to 12-4 with a 6-3 victory over an error-prone and frustrated Fendick.

Rikard Bergh and Ronnie Bathman took a 4-1 lead over Steve DeVries and David MacPherson before settling for a 6-3 victory, which gave the Dukes an 18-7 lead at intermission.

The Capitals won the match’s final two sets. DeVries overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat Bergh, 6-5 (5-3). Bergh was playing with his right thigh wrapped after pulling a muscle during Sunday’s victory over Wichita.