The Chamisal tournament had a lot of great play, long matches, gorgeous weather and great parties. The National 35-85 Hard Courts take place at the Chamisal Tennis Club located between the farming community of Salinas and the Monterey Penninsula…Steinbeck country. It is near the famed Pebble Beach Golf Club, 17 mile drive and the Monterey Bay and is absolutely a breathtakingly beautiful part of the world. The tennis wasn’t bad either.
In the 35s, the draw as quite small, but a strong player, Simona Bruetting, emerged as the champion. The Slovak native combined with Alissa Finerman to win the doubles too, taking out 45s champions Anne Kerwin-Payne and Kristin Hildebrand in the final 60 76 (Bruetting served her sole ace of the match when down set point).
The 45s final was a four hour battle between Manola Colter and Shelly Works. The two met in the second round last year with Colter winning the three hour battle 62 62. This year Works was the fresher and more consistent player, winning 75 60. Anna Zimmermann had a long three setter with Colter the day before, making Manola move up and back for hours before Manola won 63 in the third. Zimmermann beat Vesna McKenna 64 64 to take the bronze.
Kerwin-Payne/Hildebrand won the 45 doubles over Finerman/Colter; McKenna/Tina Karwasky took the bronze.
In the 55s, the marathon woman was…wait for it: Susan Wright, who had a 3+ hour singles match against me (some day I’ll forget the two match points I had a 64 54…not yet though) followed by a 46 75 75 doubles win (with Karwasky) over Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein/Tracey Thompson. Susan pulled a second “Houdini”, rallying from 46 25 in the doubles to win. Thompson took the singles bronze in three sets over Sherri Bronson, so she also had a marathon day, though their three sets were done before we split sets. Andrea Barnes/Bronson took the doubles bronze over Murveit/Kathy Barnes.
Brenda Carter again won the singles and doubles though in singles she dropped the first set to her doubles partner, Betty Wachob, before winning the final sets 61 61. Wilma Lee played well to earn the bronze and Sonia West/Anne Russ took the doubles bronze. It was Sonia’s first ball!!!!
Dori deVries didn’t miss a beat in winning the 75 singles for the second straight year. She beat her doubles partner, Roz King, in the final. Roz had the match of the tournament with Dorothy Matthiessen, who seemingly played three sets every match, singles and doubles. King rallied from 25 down in the first and 04 down in the third to win the match 76 26 64. Burnett Herrick upset Lyn Tietz to reach the last four and took the bronze by default over Matthiessen. King came a set short of completing a doubles gold slam, when she and deVries lost to Matthiessen/Lyn Little 26 62 60 in the final. Ria Graham/Carol Wood won a hard fought three setter over Tietz/Kathy Langer to earn the bronze.
Jane Lutz completed an 85s singles gold slam by beating Cathie Hall 76 63 in the 85 singles. Hall edged Rita Price 75 in the third in the semis and was quite happy with her play in singles. Hall and Elaine Mason took the doubles silver and Hubbard/Little took the bronze. Hubbard also won the 85 singles bronze.
My sister Eileen Christin made her national debut here and did really well. It was fun having her around and fun watching her play her singles and doubles matches. She and Bonnie Tetrick are a good doubles team!
Thanks to Scott for the fabulous social program (pizza and art night, barbecue night, omelet brunch, chili night, breakfast several days, music, etc.) and the Chamisal Club members for their support of the tournament, they made everyone feel welcome.
