Ellen Markowitz had an adventure on her teams’ day off, going to Alanya yesterday. She saw lots of houses with wares displayed outside on the way and decided to stop and look at the rugs and tapestries. She ended up talking to the people, buying some carpets, drinking tea and exchanging email addresses. She also bought this hat which she is shown in…as did her teammates. They wore them around all day, and noticed a lot of smiles. Finally, when the entire team wore them to dinner, someone told them that this hat is something a boy wears after he’s circumcised at age 13! It obviously didn’t deter her from wearing it all day today though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ITF article on Wednesday results: http://www.itftennis.com/seniors/news/newsarticle.asp?id=17496

 

Thursday Results of American Teams

Italia Cup: USA beat Russia 2=1. The top Russian player, Cherkosov (sp?) took out Juan Carlos Parker with the loss of only a game, but Curtis Dunn won the #2 singles point and Willie Dann/Kline Sacks gutted out the doubles point. They play for 9th today or tomorrow.

 

Trabert and Austria Cups, men's 40 and 55 had the day off as did the Bueno Cup, women's 50s.

 

Dubler Cup beat Ireland at Belek to reach the semis.

 

The Perry Cup, men's 50s, beat Austria, who were a bit worn out by just winning their round robin division. Ross Persons won the #2 point, Sal Castillo cruised at #1 singles and Chris Bennett/Tom Smith won the doubles point. USA takes on top seeded Spain today, but are optimistic about their chances.

 

The Lenglen Cup lost to Germany 3=0. Germany, who were not in So Africa, were very strong and dropped only a set in the 3 matches, as Julie Cass took the 2nd set at #1 singles.

 

The Young Cup beat Belgium 2=1. Hollman took the #2 singles point, but the Belgium #1, who has won several world titles, beat Magers at #1 singles. Hollman/Magers took the doubles point to advance to the 5/6 playoff.

 

The Court Cup lost to the #3 seeded France 2=1. Myke Bodisch won at #2 singles; Catherine Suire of France took out Fran Chandler in straight sets at #1 singles, and Mary Dailey/Susan Love lost the doubles in 3 sets. Diane Fishburne, Susan Wright and Robin Harris from the 50s team had an adventure driving from Manavgat to Belek to watch the Court Cup play. They rented a car, a stick. Diane drove but couldn't find the reverse gear (it was different than on an American car...some lever needed to be pulled out which they discovered later). So Susan and Robin had to push Diane out of the parking space. They made it to Belek without incident, but then were told the had to park between 2 trees...knowing they couldn't make minor adjustments (still hadnt' figured out the reverse)...anyway, Susan and Robin got out and pushed the car when Diane needed to reverse and they parked, and watched the match...then came the time to get gas. The car was rented on empty and they were told to bring it back empty. Gas was about $2 a liter (quart)...they decided to buy $3 of gas. It took they said 4 people to figure out what they wanted. Oh, and by that time they had found out how to reverse the car without getting out and pushing it.

 

The gala dinner was last night, which was like a normal dinner but with more music and shrimp for dinner.

 

The women's 55s beat Switzerland easily yesterday and play Great Britain today.

 

Carolyn

For info on Tuessday's results on the ITF website, and an article, click here: http://www.itftennis.com/seniors/news/newsarticle.asp?id=17492 

 

The Italia Cup lost to So Africa. Willie Dann had a close match at #2 singles, losing 76 76, after serving for both sets. Juan Carlos Parker lost at #1 singles after rolling over on his ankle. They have another tough match today.

 

The men's 40s, Trabert Cup won 3=0 and after an off day today play the winner of a match, possible France, tomorrow.

 

The men's 50s, Perry Cup, won 3=0 today and play again today.

 

The men's 45s, Dubler Cup split their singles and the tie came down to doubles. The USA won the first set and that's all I heard but I assume they won.

 

The women's 35s, Lenglen Cup had the day off and play a very tough German team today. They rested up for it yesterday in lieu of sight seeing.

 

The women's 40s, Young Cup struggled to a 2=1 win over Spain. That left them in a 3 way tie with So Africa and Spain, as So Africa beat the USA and lost to Spain. However, since Spain beat So Africa 3=0 Spain advances to the knockout stage and USA plays today in the 5=8 place playoff. Hollman lost at #2 singles, Magers won at #1 singles in 3 sets, dropping the 2nd set in a breaker, and Magers/Hollman won the doubles in straight sets.

 

The Connolly and Bueno Cup teams advanced easily to win their groups, with the Connolly Cup winning over Ireland ...Ginnard and Karwasky won singles and Barnes/Bennett won doubles; and the Bueno Cup taking out Netherlands...Wright/Fishburne won singles and Harris/Nichols won the doubles...(60 60!).  Connolly Cup plays Switzerland today in the quarters of the knockout round and Bueno has the day off before taking on Austria on Friday.

 

At Belek, the women's 45s are in the semis and play the 3rd seed, France today, which will be a very tough match for the USA. Diane Fishburne, Robin Harris and Susan Wright are on their way over to support that team (after our 2 hour 7am practice), armed with a map, Turkish phrase book and American cell phone.).

 

Weather yesterday was perfect, a little cloudy today, but so far no repeat of Monday's wicked winds. WE have been practicing at 7am daily and see the courts get rolled by hand daily...the tile being cleaned, there is an army working here. The red clay here is much slower than American har tru and the balls are heavy and precious (each ball costs about $3.50!).

 

I'm off to watch matches and take photos.

 

 

This is Myke Bodisch's blog:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Men’s 35s: Italia Cup:

 USA is unseeded and is in Group 4 with the 5/6 seed of South Africa. Other teams in their round robin group are Romania and Ireland. USA plays today against Ireland, then tomorrow against Romania and on Wednesday against So Africa.

The seeds in the Italia Cup are Spain, France, then Russia & Germany followed by So Africa and Great Britain. There are 23 teams in this competition.  

Men’s 40s, Tony Trabert Cup

 USA is seeded #1 in the Trabert Cup. The other teams in their round robin group are Canada and Australia. There are 7 groups of 3 teams in this competition, 21 teams. The USA has a bye today, then plays Australia on Tuesday followed by Canada on Wednesday.  

The remaining seeds in the Trabert Cup are #2: Great Britain; ¾ France and Italy; 5/6 Germany and Austria and #7: Argentina

 Men’s 50s: Fred Perry Cup  

USA is seeded #3 in the Perry Cup behind #1 Spain and #2 France. There are 20 teams total, in 6 groups. The other seeds are #4 Australia and 5/6 Italy and Great Britain.  

USA has a bye today, then plays Turkey Tuesday and Argentina on Wednesday. They would face Spain in the semis if they both get that far.

 Women’s 35, Suzanne Lenglen Cup:

 USA is seeded #2 and is in a 5 team round robin group with Netherlands, Turkey, Germany and Spain. They play Turkey today, then Netherlands Tuesday, bye Wednesday, Germany on Thursday and Spain Friday. The top seed is France. The ¾ seeds are Great Britain and Spain. There are 10 teams in this event.

 Women’s 40, Young Cup

USA is seeded #2 and is in a 4 team round robin with So Africa, Turkey, and Spain. USA plays South Africa today and that will be a tough match. The other seeds are #1 Italy and ¾ France and Netherlands.

 There are 4 groups of 4 teams, 16 total.

 Women’s 50, Bueno Cup

USA is seeded #1 and in a round robin group with Slovenia and Netherlands. The remaining seeds are #2 Australia and ¾ Great Britain and Austria. There are 15 teams in this division, 3 groups of 4 teams and one group of 3 teams.

USA plays Netherlands Tuesday and Slovenia Wednesday, with a bye on Monday and Thursday. The winner of the USA round robin group will then play the winner of Austria’s group on Friday.

Connolly Cup, Women’s 55  

USA is seeded #1, followed by Netherlands, and 3 & 4 Great Britain and Australia.

USA is in a round robin group with Ireland and Turkey. They have a bye today then play Turkey on Tuesday and Ireland on Wednesday. Thursday they will play a team which finished 2^nd in its group.

There are a total of 12 teams in this division, 4 groups of 3 teams.

Click here for all draws 

Click here to see the article on the ITF website.

Sunday, Ali Bey Manavgat, Turkey

 

Captains’ meetings were held today.

 

Women’s 55s are seeded #1 and are in a 3 team round robin with Ireland and Turkey. They have a bye on Monday.

 

Women’s 50s are seeded #1 and are in a 3 team round robin with Slovenia and the Netherlands. The other seeds are #2 Australia, #3 & #4 Great Britain and Austria. USA 50s team, if it wins its round robin matches will play the winner of the Austria group on Friday in the semis. USA has bye on Monday.

 

Women’s 40s are seeded #2 behind Italy, which has a very strong team. They play tomorrow, 11am

 

Women’s 35s are seeded #2. They play tomorrow afternoon not before 1:30pm.

 

Men’s 40s are seeded #1 and have a bye on Monday.

 

Men’s 50s and men’s 35s…have not yet spoken to the captains.

 

The opening ceremonies were tonight, beginning with a parade of nations and followed by short speeches (less than 5 minutes) and some Turkish dancing (and for the Americans, a photo session).

 

Weather today was mild but overcast with a few sprinkles and not too windy.

One gold ball wasn’t enough for the singles winner at the 60-80 clay courts in Huntsville  on April 20th. They wanted two and earned them. Brenda Carter won a “double-double” in the 60s for the third straight time, teaming with Betty Wachob to win the doubles over the unseeded duo of Carol (Propstra) Gay and Liane Bryson, and winning the singles over Wachob in 3 sets.

 

The match of the tournament, at least for doubles was probably the first round encounter of Sheila Johnson/Janet Watanabe and Carter/Wachob. The former led a set and 5-1 before the top seeds rallied to force a tiebreaker, which they won. Johnson/Watanabe also led in the final set and had one match point before falling in the tiebreaker.

 

Carol Clay/Ellen Goodman finished third; Judy Louie took the bronze over Clay in three sets.

 

Dorothy Matthiessen continued her unbeaten streak in the 70s, beating Burnett Herrick (who had a fine clay tournament, reaching the final for the first time on clay), and combining with Boots Van Nostrand to take the doubles title over Kathy Langer/Lyn Tietz. Kathy Langer wins the comeback player of the year…she was down a set and 5-1 to Dori deVries, the 2^nd seed, and also down 3-0 in the third but rallied to win the match (Dori took fifth) and finished 3^rd in the tournament over Roz King. King took out two seeds en route to the semis, Carol Wood in the round of 16 and Inge Weber of Canada in the quarters.

 

Matthiessen/Van Nostrand edged the 2^nd seeds, Langer/Lyn Tietz in a tough 3 setter in the final. Roz King/Nancy Reed placed third.

 

In the 80s, Irene Shepard won the singles in 3 sets over Betty Eisenstein, and combined with Marilyn Skiffington to win the doubles over the top seeds, Rita Price/Marian Tyrell. They beat the top 2 seeds to do it and I believe it is Marilyn’s first gold ball!  Piyachart Hussey/Dorothy Knode placed third in doubles; Price took the bronze in singles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday April 20, 2007

Ali Bey Manavgat, Turkey

 

The American teams began arriving here today. Susan Wright, Robin Ogburn and I practiced a couple of times. Diane Fishburne’s  baggage didn’t arrive unfortunately, but she’s game for practicing anyway at 8am. The clay is red, the balls are heavy, but the practice went well anyway…senior Americans like clay. The wireless access has been withdrawn from Ali Bey by management for some reason within the past couple of weeks.

 

The weather is great, very cool in the mornings, sunny and breezy and 70s thereafter.

 

As ususal, if anyone goes hungry here, it’s not the fault of Ali Bey, they are feeding us well.

 

The draws will be done on Sunday and team photos, if I can find wireless access, I’ll upload photos.