Crawford Cup Saturday: Great Tennis, Great Weather in Fort Lauderdale

Today was beautiful and not too windy, and there was a lot of good tennis of course!

Link to all photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/111133686884013323699/CrawfordCup2016

Link to draws: http://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=170979#&&s=8Results0

Suella Steel was unseeded in singles and seeded #2 in doubles this week. She’s made a hash of the singles seedings, beating two of the 5-8 seeds and the #2 seed en route to the final, where she’ll meet top-seeded Donna Fales. Fales efficiently disposed of Sheila Weinstock today, while Steel took out Ria Graham in a rain interrupted match. Fales, a former top 10 player, who won the US Nationals (a precursor to the US Open) mixed in 1966 and the US National Clay in 1962 has a smooth classic game that contrasts with Steel’s game, but both are excellent players. Steel owns over 80 gold balls!

Steel and Sheila Weinstock “upset” the top seeds, Carol Wood & Ria Graham 62 61 to win the 75 doubles. Burnett Herrick/Dorothy Wasser took third in a tight match over Libby Keenan/Lola O’Sullivan (64 76).

In the 55s, the top two seeds advanced convincingly to the final. Diane Barker took out the tenacious Susan Boyer 62 61 in 90 minutes. I lost to Fran Chandler 62 62 in 2 hours 15 minutes…long points, long games, Fran won them…too good (and she’s really fast!).

Abbi Neuthaler won this tournament for the first time after coming her for decades. She combined with Erin Boynton to beat the #2 seeds yesterday and the top seeds, Betsy Savitt/Kris McDonald 76 76. The top seeds put up a battle, coming back from 1/5 down in the second set to force a tiebreak. Boyer/Kathy Vick were leading Ann Pellow/Yvonne Gallop when I left. (Update: Boyer/Vick won 63 64).

In the 65s, #4 seeded Carol Clay played a very good match against Sue Bramlette to win 63 63. She moved well and didn’t make many errors against the always tenacious (yes, I like that adjective today) Sue Bramlette. Clay will face Toni Novack in the final. Novack edged Simmy Pell 64 76 (9). Novack, with Cindy Babb also reached the the doubles final, taking out Clay/Ellen Goodman 62 64. The second set got tight when Clay/Goodman rallied from 25 down, but Novack served it out. Bramlette/Kerry Young beat Lil Peltz-Petow/Sue Kimball 64 76 (9) and will face Babb/Novack tomorrow.