Fran Chandler, the current World #1 and World Champion in the 50s division, claimed the USTA National 50s Clay crown today, beating Shelly Works 63 64. Yesterday she beat Mariana Hollman and Mariana was surprised by how well Fran played against her, commenting that Fran made no mistakes and moved great.
Shelly had survived a 3.5 hour match the day before against Susan Boyer. For Boyer, it was just a walk in the park; she survived a six hour match just a few weeks earlier against Erin Nevin (survive being the operative term; Susan lost the match but had to go to the hospital immediately after and was diagnosed with pancreatitis). Susan seemed to tire in the second and third sets which she normally doesn’t do. She said that the toughest thing about the pancreatitis was that after a six hour match she was only allowed to drink water for two days…she couldn’t even have a glucose drip as that would involve the pancreas! She said she still wasn’t allowed to eat fat or much sugar and that alone could wear one out during 3-6 hour matches. Today Mariana beat Susan in three sets with Susan winning the first set and Mariana the last two.
In the 40s, the top seeds, Simona Bruetting and Patricia Zerdan advanced without drama to the final and Zerdan (a 35s singles finalist at the World Championships in May) handily won the singles final. Mutsumi Shirai of NY took the bronze over Marlo Carruth.
The 40 doubles was won by Tammi Morris and Zerdan over Bruetting and Vesna McKenna in what was apparently a long doubles match, 46 76 64. I watched both teams play yesterday and they were impressive. Mary Dailey/Trish Riddell took the bronze over Hartley/Hulsen.
The 50 doubles crown was won by Hollman/Works over Cheryl Keller/Susan Kirby (who were upset winners earlier in the week against Chandler/Myke Loomis) 62 75. However, Hollman/Works were pushed to 75 in the third in the semis by Susie Brown/Kim Jones.
This year the weather cooperated and the tournament seemed low key but players seemed quite happy with the tournament.
Draws: http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=139359#&&s=7Draws2