UNHINGED Former tennis star Martina Hingis lunges to return a shot to fellow legend Martina Navratilova. The two faced off in World TeamTennis match play yesterday at Harvard’s Bright Hockey Center.

As tennis great Billie Jean King looked on, two of the biggest names in the history of women’s tennis—Martina Navratilova and Martina Hingis—toed opposite service lines yesterday in the most unlikely of venues, Harvard’s Bright Hockey Center.

In its second home World TeamTennis (WTT) match, the Boston Lobsters fell 23-15 to the New York Sportimes at the Bright Center, which will be the Lobsters’ home arena for its three-week season.

WTT is a professional tennis league in its thirtieth year of existence, although this is the Boston Lobsters’ first year in the league since 1978.

The Sportimes’ victory hinged on Hingis, 24, who took down Navratilova, 48, in singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles sets. Hingis won 15 games to Navratilova’s 4.

“I thought I played pretty well,” Navratilova said, later adding, “It was the best I played, and I got whooped.”

Hingis’ strength was clearest in the women’s singles set, which she won 5-0. WTT rules provide for five events—men’s and women’s singles and doubles, and mixed doubles. Each match consists of one five-game set.

Although early in the singles match she fought hard for points, Navratilova—Sports Illustrated’s fourteenth greatest athlete of all time—barely broke into a match that never really went her way. Navratilova repeatedly struck a frustrated pose, jerking her head towards the rink’s wood-boarded ceiling and throwing up her arms in exasperation after double-faulting in her service game and returning volleys directly into the net.

Navratilova paired up with Daja Bedanova in women’s singles, putting up their best showing of their night early and advancing to an initial 2-0 set lead. New York rallied—and despite Navratilova’s athletic prowess, which she showed off with an improbable leaping cross-court backhand volley—won the set 5-3, as Hingis nailed a series of deep shots.

Navratilova’s age showed by her third set, a mixed-doubles contest played with Lobsters alternate Jonathan B. Chu ’05 that the twosome lost 5-1 to Hingis and Mark Merklein.

“She’s just such a good tactician. I had a lot of fun trying to find a way to beat her,” Navratilova said, summarizing her reaction to the day as “Energized by my game, disappointed by my result.”

Thomas J. Blake ’98 and Chu constituted a Harvard alumni duo in the evening’s first match, demonstrating strong game management early before succumbing in a sudden-death match tiebreaker to fall 5-4.

Blake, 6’5”, delivered Boston’s sole victory on the night, winning his last two games to defeat New York’s Robert Kendrick 5-3.

Marquee player and former Crimson standout James R. Blake, a member of the Class of 2001, will play against the Springfield Lasers on Monday.

WTT matches pit gender-balanced teams, and team scoring is cumulative of total game victories.

The match-up was the second of seven home games. The WTT season runs for three weeks, in which Boston will play 14 matches. Navratilova will play four more, including one at home on July 21.