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31 oktober Grandes DamesHello this week from Winter Park, Florida, (a suburb of Orlando).
I'm here for the Grandes Dames Cat II 35-75.
Play starts tomorrrow in all age divisions. I did head out to the courts after driving up here (traffic does not transport one to Disneyland....or Disney World, it's pretty wicked here at rush hour), and the Azalea Tennis Center seems like a great place to play tennis. Ellen Goodman was coaching some juniors and there was lots of activity on the courts despite the windy weather.
The draws can be viewed here. http://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/Draws/TournamentDraws.aspx?T=50669
Happy Halloween, more after tomorrow's play.
12 oktober Pensacola, Finals: Wright Wins Doubles Gold Slam!!!!Susan Wright won the 50 doubles final today and with it a "Gold Slam", which means she won the hard, grass, indoor and clay court 50 doubles titles in the same calendar year. She won two titles with Kathy May Fritz, one each with Marianne Robertson and Sherri Bronson. For Marianne, her doubles partner at the clay courts, it was her first ever USTA ball and she was extremely excited about the win as were Susan, Susan's husband and Susan's dad (about the Gold Slam). Susan and Marianne beat last year's winners, Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein/Robin Harris 64 62. Sherri Bronson/Frances O'Sullivan took the bronze with a 76 62 win over Janet Bez/Mary Morgan.
In the 50 singles, Diane Fishburne won her third 50s national title in as many tries, and her victim today, as it was in the hard court and indoor finals was Susan Wright. Wright won a "silver slam" of sorts...she reached the final of all four 50 national singles titles this year (losing at the grass to Kathy May). The score was 76 60. Susan said she played a great first set and that Diane made some errors and that in the 2nd set Diane made no errrors. Diane said that the first set was streaky. (The second set was streaky too, all upwards by Fishburne apparently.). Carolyn Nichols beat a tired Robin Harris 60 63.
In the 40 singles, Renata Marcinkowska, who won this event 2 years ago, and playing in her first national since 2005, won the singles against a tenacious Robin Keener. It was a battle of the dropshotters for much of the match. Marcinkowska won the first set 62, but trailed 53 in the 2nd before rallying to take it 75. Keener had a set point at 54, and barely missed a backhand wide which would have given her the set. After dodging that bullet, Marcinkowska seemed to raise her game and won the title on her 2nd match point. Kathy Vick, the fitness award winner of this tournament, played her 2nd marathon match, rallying from 0-3 in the third to beat Judy Van Raalte 60 67 76. Her doubles partner, not wanting to be left out of the marathon match experience, also played to a third set tiebreaker in the semis of the backdraw, but fell to Renee Tharpe in the breaker. Kathy said she was going to eat a gallon of ice cream tonight and Renee said she was going to eat 2 pizzas. They've earned it this week for sure (Renee gets the finalist award, fitness dept....lost points for cramping in the third against Vick in the quarters.)
Diane Fishburne came away with 2 gold balls, winning the 40 doubles for the 2nd straight year with Mary Dailey. They beat Brigandi/Vick in the final. Both teams looked sharp in their matching outfits. Tharpe/Waldon took the bronze.
For all results click here: http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Results.aspx?T=49504
11 oktober Pensacola, Semifinal DayThe semis were played today. The 40s, after long matches yesterday, played quickly today. Renata Marcinkowska showed off her shot variety in her 60 61 win over Kathy Vick (who played 4 hours plus yesterday plus doubles). Kathy said that she felt her age for a change, but gave full credit to Renata for playing an excellent match. (Her opponent from yesterday, Renee Tharpe, won her singles back draw match today and played 3 sets of doubles.). Robin Keener beat Van Raalte 61 63, but the second set lasted over an hour and was full of very long rallies.
40 Doubles: Vick/Brigandi cruised past Bohac/Zimmerman in one semi, but the top seeds and defending champions, Diane Fishburne/Mary Dailey had to go the distance to beat Tharpe/Waldon 64 in the third.
Fishburne also reached the final in the 50 singles, beating Nichols 46 64 60. She was lagging 4-3 in the second but found a higher gear, eliminated her errors, found her winnners and lost few points in the third set. That match finished before the other semi. In a rematch of their semi in the World Championships in May, Robin Harris and Susan Wright played three sets. The two, who have known each other since they were playing 12 & unders, have similar game styles, though Wright is more aggressive. Wright had set points in the first set at 5-4, but failed to convert and Harris went on to win the set 7-5. Wright became steadier and won the final sets 64 63.
Harris/Ramsower-Pearlstein reached the doubles final with a 63 75 win over Mary Morgan, Janet Bezmalinovich and Wright/Marianne Robertson ousted Sherri Bronson/Frances O'Sullivan 62 64. Bronson/O'Sullivan started lobbing effectively (well, Sherri lobbed a lot) and getting back a lot of balls, frustrating their more aggressive opponents at times.
Another nice day here...finalst and playoffs tomorrow, and feed-in finals on Saturday.
10 oktober Pensacola Day 2, UpdateKathy Vick and Renee Tharpe did finally finish...Kathy won 67 76 76, rallying from 2-5 down in the third. One onlooker said that Tharpe began to cramp at 3-5 in the third and that Kathy looked fresh at the end. She seemed perky at the dinner and both Kathy and Renee played and won doubles matches after their 4 hour 15 minute singles match.
Judy Van Raalte beat Anna Zimmerman 64 64 in a match that lasted over two hours.
The doubles match of the day pitted Sherri Bronson, who played over three hours of singles, and Frances O'Sullivan, last year's 50 doubles finalists, against Priscilla Sisson/Vicky Nagy. Nagy/Sisson had 4 match points at 6-5 in the third but Bronson/O'Sullivan forced a tiebreaker and stepped up their play, winning it 7-3. They face Marianne Robertson/Susan Wright. Janet Bezmalinovich/Mary Morgan won 6
 6 (yes, there were smiley faces on the draw sheet in lieu of "0"s in their score. No wonder Bez said she felt rested going into the semis.  The tournament dinner was tonight...photos are posted here. Susan Wright came away with not one but THREE prizes...eggs (since Brian saw her peeling a boiled egg on the court after practice the first day; spike it hair gel and of course a pink mirror...but it was all taken in stride, and Brian took his roasting by Mary Morgan in stride too.
Well...all semis are tomorrow, more then. Pensacola Day 2It's another beautiful day here in Pensacola...a bit toasty, but sunny and not too windy.
The 50s semis are set in singles. Diane Fishburne beat Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein 61 62 and was a well played match, lots of winners. Fisburne showed though why she's the world and US #1 in this division. Susan Wright beat another NorCal player, Leslie Airola-Murveit also 62 61. Leslie said they'd last played when she was 18 and Susan was 16, in a NorCal junior event. She also said that she had chances to get more than 3 games, but that Susan hit winners whenever she was down in a game and hit a lot of lines and was very effective with her serve. Carolyn Nichols beat Mary Morgan 62 60. Mary attacked well during the first set, but Nichols adjusted later on in the set. The battle of the day was just getting heated up when these three matches had finished...it was between Sherri Bronson, the finalist here in 2005-6 and Robin Harris. Robin won the first set 62. Sherri adjusted, threw in lots of lobs and moonballs and won the 2nd set 76 (5). After a 10 min break, Robin attacked more effectively and ground out the win 63. The match lasted over three hours. Robin faces Susan next while Diane takes on Nichols. These matchups have occurred all three times these four players have been in the same draw this year.
In the 40s, Robin Keener faced Vesna McKenna who was playing her first national in 20 years. Keener dropped the first set 61, but at 41 started coming to net more which she said relaxed her. It must have done something good...she won the next 2 sets 61 60 (and used one of my hats in the third set...no, not a terrycloth one, a green US Open hat...hers broke...so now I have a lucky baseball cap). Renata Marcinkowska, playing her first national in 2 years, showed off her shot variety...heavy topspin, hard flat forehands, and a lot of dropshots, in beating San Diegan Annemarie Brigandi 61 63. Brigandi's doubles partner, Kathy Vick, and last year's finalist, Renee Tharpe, had battled for about 2 hours when I left...and had finished one set, won 76 by Tharpe (the tiebreaker was close, about 10-8 and Kathy had some set points in it). Anna Zimmerman and Judy Van Raalte were still playing. Van Raalte won the first set and it was 4-4 in the second.
09 oktober Pensacola Day OneHello from Pensacola, Florida...in the panhandle of Florida. It's nice and toasty and dry here (well, a bit humid, but not raining).
The 40/50 clay courts started today. The draws are a bit small but loaded with tough players, the quality is very high.
All the 50s players were in action today except for the top seed, Diane Fishburne and Robin Harris who received a default...so they were in action practicing with each other. The section with the most players in this draw is....NorCal, with three...SoCal has 2, so there are 5 players here from California and only 2 from Florida. Who says Californians are hard court players.
Ok, so the matches...Sherri Bronson and Donna McKenna provided the lunchtime entertainment on Court 1. They had great rallies, and a lot of long games, but Bronson was more flexible and better able to end points, and won 62 63. The other good 50s match was between Frances O'Sullivan/Leslie Airola. Leslie won 63 64 in a little under 2 hours.
In the 40s, Kathy Vick's relentless consistency resulted in a 61 60 win over Allison Peifler, a very good local player. The score was not indicative of the quality of the match. Vesna McKenna outlasted Claudia Scariot 62 64 in another good match. Scariot had McKenna pinned up against the fence in many rallies...good thing she's tall.
Brian and Scott are as always a good team and the lunch was tasty and plentiful. Quarters of singles and doubles are tomorrow. The main draw in singles and doubles should end Friday.
Here's the link to the draws. http://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/draws/TournamentDraws.aspx?T=49504
The dinner is tomorrow...will try and post some photos tomorrow or Thursday. |
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