Dori DeVries won a long battle against her friend and doubles partner Roz King to win the gold ball at the USTA National 80 Hard Courts Sunday. She battled back after dropping the first set 61 to win the final sets 64 76(5). The two played a month ago at the National Clay Courts where King won with the loss of only two games. Dori looked pretty down after that match and a bit perplexed, but obviously found another gear today. The duo won the doubles, beating Burnett Herrick/Dorothy Wasser to claim the title.
Jane Lutz won her final round robin match to clinch the 90s title. Her toughest match was the first one, against Rita Price, which she won 75 in the third.
In women’s 70s, there was another battle from behind to win. Carter/Wachob, the #2 seeds, lost to Bennett/Bryson 64 64 at the Clay. Here the second seeds reversed the outcome, winning 06 75 62.
In 60 doubles, Robin Harris and I were up a set against Susan Wright/Tracey Thompson when it rained last night. Today we started at 9am and it was still a bit drizzly. We got started after a slight mist delay around 9:30 and won the 2nd set 63, even though I never held served the entire match! Robin though was only broken once today…no one else held serve. The conditions were heavy and slow. That and apparently we had stellar service returns! Robin played great and was everywhere on the court.
There were quite a few consolation matches today and there are a few tomorrow in the 80s, but for me, that’s a wrap on this year’s national hard courts.
Again, a sincere thank you to Bill Kellogg, Conan, Pierrette, Marilyn, Bob and the entire staff of the LJBTC, and to the Beach Club members for allowing this tournament to use all the courts.
◦ Court 1 matches are streamed here: https://www.ipcamlive.com/ljbtc
◦ Results can be found here: https://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=205807#&&s=7Draws21
◦ Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xE8s7qfPu3d6au33A
◦ Fans can tune-in to RadioTennis.com on Friday, May 11 at 9 a.m. to listen to live audio play-by-play of the day’s matches on Court No. 1. Tennis broadcaster Ken Thomas will provide the live web cast commentary at https://radiotennis.com/.
I really took advantage of the streaming video from court 1. I never saw Ros Nideffer play before but now I’m a fan. The doubles matches were instructional, and I would like to see more national tournaments stream matches. I know Forest Hill has some video of courts (you can see it in the pro shop). Is this something the USTA could provide equipment for and volunteers could operate at nationals if the clubs don’t have the equipment. I think Brent Abel has made videos of some of the men’s nationals, but I don’t think they were streaming live. Penny Maag