World Championships: Americans Win Titles in Turkey
American players won several world titles Friday and compete for more Saturday.
In the women’s 35 doubles, Mary Dailey combined with a French player to win her 2nd world doubles title of the day.
In the women’s 45 doubles, Dailey and Diane Fishburne won their second world doubles title together, winning the final in convincing fashion. Fishburne goes for her third world singles title and 5th world title overall on Saturday against Susan Wright, who is playing in her first world title.
In women’s 50 doubles, Robin Harris and Carolyn Nichols won their first world title, beating 2005 champions Sue Walters and Lyn Mortimer of Australia 62 63 in the final. They lobbed well to keep their aggressive opponents off the net and were the more consistent team.
Liz Allan of Australia won her 15th consecutive world doubles title, and 7th in row with Kerry Ballard, also of Australia, over fellow Aussies.
The men’s 45s is an All-American affair. The final will be contested today between 5th seeded John Chatlak and top seeded and defending world champion Val Wilder. Mike Fedderly/Val Wilder won the doubles. The duo has been nearly unbeatable in the past several years, having won the doubles gold slam in the USA in 2006 (taking the grass, clay, hard and indoor titles), and the world championships.
In men’s 50s, Ross Persons lost in the semis, but American Dan Waldman, one of the 9-16 seeds reached the final against a French player. They play later today.
Tom Smith and Ross Persons lost in the 50 doubles on Friday. Smith first contested the 55 doubles final (with American Phil Landauer), but fell to the all-American team of Larry Turville/Neal Newman. He slipped on the tile after showering though between matches and broke his toe prior to the 50 doubles final. Ouch!
Larry Turville plays Andrew Rae in the 55 singles final and hopes to avenge his loss of a week ago in the Cup final. Turville had won their two encounters prior to last weeks’ loss against the scrappy and consistent Aussie.