The first USTA National (Level 2) women’s tournament of the year began today in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida at the Palm Beach Gardens Tennis Center (one of the venues for the ITF World Championships in May).
It was a chilly day for South Florida…”only” hit a high of 73 (about 23 degrees Celsius)..perfect for playing though.
The draws aren’t too large but the 60s in particular is very strong, with the top four seeds the same as those at the Level 1 Clay Courts held last September. The draw features several current or past ITF singles champions or finalists: Fran Chandler, Vicki Buholz, Diane Barker and I are the seeds.
I’m playing doubles with Susan Wright of Orlando (she’s the top seed in the 50 singles); we had a bye today and possibly a default tomorrow (we are in one of the two round robin groups and the team we are supposed to play tomorrow defaulted today; there are only three teams in our round robin). It’s a good thing we played a doubles practice match yesterday! Susan and I scouted the teams on the other half of the draw and I took a few photos.
Toni Novack and Sue Bramlette are the top seeds in women’s singles and Bramlette/Cindy Babb and Peg Machoian/Joan Oelschlager are the #2 seeds (and won today by the skin of their teeth, 26 60 1/0 (8).
Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will warm up early and I play at 10, Susan at 11. This tournament was cancelled last year, so we are happy to be back competing this year.
