The American women continued their stellar play in the individual championships, winning the 40, 45, 50 & 55 singles and 35, 40 & 55 doubles. The men weren’t shabby either, taking the 40 & 55 singles and 50 doubles titles. USA women were also runners up in the 45 & 55 doubles, and the men in the 40, 50 & 55 doubles.
Today my Australian doubles partner, Lyn Mortimer and I won the 55 doubles over the all American pairing of Mary Ginnard, Fort Lauderdale and Tina Karwasky, California. We had a three-set match, 64 16 62. The turning point came at 1-1 when I was serving at 0-40 and we came back to win that game. Lyn played great, very aggressively and I managed to keep the ball in play often enough for Lyn to have a chance to put it away.
Tina meanwhile won the 55 singles, her first singles world title. She hadn’t played the world championships in a long time because of work conflicts, but improved her play dramatically in each match, and made very few errors and served great in the final. Diane Fishburne of SC won the 50 singles in an upset win over defending champion Patricia Medrado. Medrado beat Diane last year in Spain in straight sets. Diane played smart, steady tennis to beat Medrado 76 61.
In the men’s divisions today, Danny Waldman,D.C, won the 55 singles over Andrew Rae of Australia 64 76…then went out with Florida’s Egan Adams and won the semis of the 50 doubles…then the final of the 50 doubles over USA players Ross Persons, Houston, TX and Mike Tammen, Portland, OR…in all he was on the court from about 9 to 5 with about 60 minutes rest total. He was the only US player to win two titles. Fred Robinson and Tom Smith reached the 55 doubles final today and lost to the Aussies.
In the younger divisions, over on the hard courts, Mario Tabares edged Germany’s Christopher Bloemeke 76 (8) in the third to win the 40 singles. Bloemeke had beaten USA’s Morgan Shepherd 76 in the third the day before.
The closing ceremonies were nice. The players’ names were announced and medals given out (bronze for semifinalists, silver and gold for the finalists and winners respectively; and the winners also received nice sombreros; and photos were taken in front of the players’ national flags.
Florida Players Results: Trish Riddell, Maitland; member of Suzanne Lenglen Cup team which finished 4th; Vesna McKenna, Hollywood: Won 40 doubles and member of winning Young Cup team; Mary Dailey, Delray Beach: Finalist, 45 doubles, Captain and member, Suzanne Lenglen Cup team; Carolyn Nichols, Fort Lauderdale: Won 55 doubles; captain & member of winning Connolly Cup team; bronze medalist, singles; Mary Ginnard, Fort Lauderdale, Finalist, 55 doubles; Kerry Young, Maitland, FL, member of winning Connolly Cup team; Egan Adams, Palmetto, Won 50 doubles; bronze medalist, 50 singles; member of winning Fred Perry Cup team; Joe Bouquin, Delray Beach, member of Austria Cup team which finished fourth
Tonight a group of us went into downtown San Luis Potosi to Plaza Carmen, where there is a large church…we ate at a restaurant overlooking the plaza. There was a light show on the church wall depicting biblical scenes; a rock concert was going on in the square, there were lots and lots of people everywhere.
