Patricia Zerdan captured her second national 30 singles title of the year, beating Cristina Sirianni in a well played match, which had many momentum swings and a long rain delay at a crucial moment in the match.
This was the only women’s 30 national which was not a round robin. 14 players entered the event. Sirianni beat Paula Juels-Jones in the semis 63 63. Juels-Jones is an attorney from Little Rock who was playing in her first adult national championship, and she definitely got in plenty of tennis during the event, since she played singles, (4 matches), doubles (3) and mixed (3). Zerdan beat Martha Garzon in the other semi 60 63. That led to the aforementioned final. Sirianni seemed to be cruising to her first gold ball, leading 5-1 in the first set. Zerdan, who seemed to play her best tennis when behind, rallied to lead the set 6-5. During that time there were numerous short rain delays. Sirianni raised her game again, forcing a tiebreaker. The breaker was 4-4 when it started raining in earnest. The match was postponed till the next day, with Sirianni to serve the first point when they resumed. She won that point but then lost the breaker 75. Zerdan went up 4-0 in the 2nd, Sirianni rallied to 5-4, mixing up the pace better, while Zerdan’s dropped. But once Zerdan got behind, she again picked up the level of her play and rallied to win the set, match and gold ball 75. Juels-Jones took the bronze with a hard fought 3-set win over Garzon. It was her first USTA ball.
Mary Dailey and Trish Riddell, who won the 30 grass in July, added this title to their collection, cruising to the title. They beat Sirianni/Garzon 62 63 in the final. Juels-Jones/Collette Kienle took the bronze.