Draws for ITF World Team Championships, Turkey
We had the day off today, Tuesday, practiced at 8am; scouted our opponents after (we play France), had lunch (of course), and I had a nice conversation with Marcela, the #2 Argentinian. I stretched and did some shoulder exercises before walking to see the conclusion of the W85 tie (see below). Carolyn Lane visited nearby Side, a waterfront town with some interesting Roman ruins and lots of tourist shops.
Tuesday, is the last day for the round robin portion of the competition. Only five USA teams were in action today: Men’s 65/70/75 and Women’s 80/85.
The USA W85 were playing their first tie of the tournament, against Germany. Dorothy Wasser won her singles at #2, Carol Wood lost 63 16 10-5 and Wood/Wasser won the doubles in a thriller…they won the first set, lost the second and then won an exciting match tiebreaker in front of a group of USA players, 10-8 (unfortunately on a double fault, but USA will take the win). USA W85 play Great Britain for the Cup perhaps…Germany beat Great Britain, so if USA also beats GBR, they win the Cup…if they lose, it will come down to games and sets and Germany beat GBR 2/1 but all except #2 singles were quite decisive.
The USA W80 scored their first win of the week, a 3/0 win over Switzerland; Castell at #2, Hillebrand at #1 and Sheila Weinstock/Andi Polisky in doubles.
The men’s 65s played Spain on slow red clay. Chuck Kuhle, winner of a marathon yesterday lost in straights today…that’s tennis…the Spaniard didn’t miss; Ross Hessler lost in three sets. So USA finish second in their group. There are five groups in men’s 65, so the five winners of the round robins advance and three of the second place finishers advance as “lucky losers”. However the lucky losers are picked according to the ranking of their singles players, so the USA may or may not fall short there.
The men’s 70s beat India to finish second in their group. There are six groups, hence two lucky losers but apparently the USA team doesn’t have top ranked (ITF) players so has no chance of a lucky loser spot and will next play for 9th. Dennis Englebrecht at #2 and Norm Ashbrooke at #1 won, Dennis in straights and Norm in three.
The men’s 75s won today and thus won their group. Brian Cheney at #2 and Michael Beautyman (3 months out from a partial knee replacement) both won in straight sets; Cheney/Brant Bailey were set for doubles. They are in the semis which will be played tomorrow or Thursday.