The first tournament of the year for me begins tomorrow in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (though there are other ITF and USTA tournaments being held this month).
This tournament is being held at the Palm Beach Gardens Tennis Center on green (har-tru) clay. The events on offer at 30/40/50/60/70/80 though there are no 30s entered.
I am playing 60 singles and doubles with Susan Wright (who is playing 50 singles). It’s a strong field led by Fran Chandler, a 2x former world champion and Erin Boynton from Canada, a finalist here last year.
Play began today in the 50/60/70/80 divisions in very windy weather. There was one notable upset: Sheila Feuer upset top seeded Sue Bramlette in 70 singles 76 in the third, rallying from 3/0 down in the third set…great win, tough loss. #2 Cindy Babb advanced to the semis.
Tomorrow I play Kathy Heinze of California who is also in the 70 semis against Feuer. Susan and I play doubles too against Pat Hirsch and Sheila Chiricosta. Susan plays Janet Hofstra.
Below, a photo of the entrance to the Palm Beach Gardens Tennis Center.
