Eight of Nine US Teams in Final; Queens Cup Finishes Second

USA has reached the final of eight of the nine cups contested in New Zealand, failing to reach the final only in the Alice Marble Cup (in which the USA was seeded 4), falling in the Marble Cup 2-1 to Germany on a bitterly cold day in New Zealand.

Marble Cup: Betty Wachob played Inge from Germany at #2 singles and things were looking good when Betty roared to a 5-1 lead. Her opponent though started playing fearlessly, hitting deep and running beautifully, holding off 2 set points in her rally to take the set 75. Germany won the 2nd set 6-3 to go up 1-0. Brenda Carter started even better, winning the first set against Heide Orth. Heide though played better and better, finishing by taking the third set 61. Carol Clay/Judy Louie won the doubles point.

65s: The USA played Australia and won 3-0 behind the strong play of Cathie Anderson at #2 singles, Charlene Hillebrand at #1 singles and Anderson/Sinclair Bill in the doubles. Suella Steel caught the nasty cold that Char had earlier in the week and rested up for the final, which will be played against Great Britain. GBR narrowly defeated Australia, taking the doubles point 64 in the third to decide the tie.

The USA women’s 70s had the day off.

The Queens Cup team played the final against last year’s winners, Great Britain and lost 2-1. Lucille Kyvallos lost to World Champion Ruth 61 61 at #2 singles. Mary Boswell rallied from 1-3 down in the first set to beat Britain’s #1 Rita Lauder. Ruth and Rita played Mary and Louise Russ and beat them in straight sets, using superior court positioning and movement. It was a fine week though for the USA team, which finished second, improving on their #4 finish last year and ended with a 4-1 record, an improvement on their 1-3 record in 2006.

Britannia Cup: USA beat France 3-0. Alan Carter won at #2 singles in a routine straight set match. Fred Drilling played the lefty #1 and edged him 63 76. Rudy Hernando and Del Campbell won the doubles point 61 46 61 (and it was really really cold!).

Crawford Cup: USA beat Great Britain 3-0. Herm Ahlers played a marathon match, losing more games but winning more sets than David Garman, 76 26 76. Bob Duesler won comfortably at #1 singles, beating Don Shears 61 63. Duesler/Gordon Davis won the doubles point over James Wood/Shears 60 75.

Bitsy Grant Cup: USA had the day off. USA plays Canada and Lorne Main tomorrow.

Gardnar Mulloy Cup: USA had the day off.