TEAM TENNIS : New Tandem Lifts Dukes to Victory : Tennis: Kronemann and Garrison-Jackson combine forces to help put down Sacramento, 25-20.

NEWPORT BEACH —  Trevor Kronemann and Zina Garrison-Jackson had never played or even practiced together. However familiarity meant nothing Sunday night, while power and talent meant everything.

Kronemann and Garrison-Jackson handily defeated Sacramento’s mixed-doubles team of David MacPherson and Patty Fendick in the deciding set to give the Newport Beach Dukes a 25-20 victory in World TeamTennis play before an estimated crowd of 1,300 at John Wayne Tennis Club.

The Dukes’ record is 8-0. Sacramento drops to 5-2, with its only two losses coming to the Dukes.

Kronemann has lost only once in eight sets of mixed doubles--the loss coming with Katrina Adams Friday night to MacPherson and Fendick, 6-3. But Sunday, Kronemann and Garrison-Jackson routed MacPherson and Fendick, 6-2, to turn a 19-18 lead into an easy Dukes’ victory.

“When the women are playing better than you, there’s not a lot you have to do,” Kronemann said. “It’s just nice to have women that aren’t afraid to come up to the net and volley.”

Kronemann said Garrison-Jackson is fitting in well.

“It’s tough on Zina because the team was playing so well before she got here,” Kronemann said. “She didn’t want to be the one responsible for giving us a loss. But she’s handled it well.”

A substitute for Manon Bollegraf, Garrison-Jackson was allowed by the WTT to play more than one set for the first time in three matches. She gave much of the credit Sunday to Kronemann.

“I played well in the mixed doubles, but when Trevor’s bringing those serves and smashing those returns back, I know I don’t have to do as much,” Garrison-Jackson said.

In eight sets, Kronemann and his partners, Adams, Garrison-Jackson and Bollegraf, have won 46 of 66 games.

“It’s those three women that make Tank look so good,” Duke Coach Greg Patton said. “They are the leading ladies and he’s Tom Cruise.”

But it was the leading ladies who got the Dukes off to a slow start Sunday--Adams and Garrison-Jackson were beaten by Fendick and Caroline Kuhlman in doubles, 6-2.

“Zina came off the court and was really upset with herself,” Patton said. “But I told her, ‘It’s only one set, and you’ve won a lot of three set matches before.”

Garrison-Jackson apparently listened well as she recovered to trounce a bewildered Patty Fendick, 6-1, to give the Dukes an 8-7 lead.

“I took the pressure and rose to it,” Garrison-Jackson said. “I couldn’t have played any better.”

Kronemann and Rikard Bergh then beat Steve DeVries and MacPherson, 6-5 and 5-4 in the tiebreaker to give the Dukes a 14-12 lead. But MacPherson came back to beat Bergh in singles, 6-5, 5-4 in the tiebreaker to cut the Dukes’ lead to one game heading into the final set.

The Dukes are off for three days before they play host to San Antonio at 7 p.m. Thursday.