WASHINGTON, July 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russian-born tennis player Anastasia Rodionova and her teammates with the Washington Kastles have notched what the professional tennis team calls the longest winning streak “in major US pro sports history,” eclipsing a 33-game winning streak by the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Lakers in the early 1970s.
The Kastles, one of eight teams in the professional World TeamTennis (WTT) league, defeated the Boston Lobsters on Tuesday behind a doubles victory by Rodionova and partner Martina Hingis, a former world No. 1, to bring the team’s winning streak to 34.
The victory surpassed the 33-game winning streak by the Lakers in the 1971-72 NBA season fueled by basketball legends Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain. It also came a day after Rodionova and her teammates, including former women’s world No. 1 player Venus Williams of the United States, met with US President Barack Obama at the White House to celebrate the team’s 2012 league championship.
Rodionova, a 31-year-old naturalized Australian who was born in the Russian city of Tambov, reached her highest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking in 2010, making it to No. 62, and is currently ranked No. 130. She reached the Wimbledon finals in mixed doubles in 2003 together with Israeli player Andy Ram.
The WTT is a co-ed professional tennis league originally founded in 1973 that has included numerous global stars, including Martina Navratilova, Andrei Agassi, Pete Sampras and Russian player Maria Sharapova, currently ranked No. 2 in the WTA.
The league is on the margins of US professional sports, however, lagging far behind professional baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer and American football in popularity and commercial appeal.
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