USA won two cups this year in the seniors division, the women’s 50, Maria Bueno Cup and 55, the Alice Marble Cup.
Italia Cup, men’s 35s won on Friday and today played the 9/10 place playoff.
Trabert Cup, men’s 40s lost both singles yesterday to France and today to Great Britain. They finished 4th.
Dubler Cup, men’s 45s, lost yesterday and today to finish 4th.
Fred Perry Cup, men’s 50s, won yesterday 2-1, beating Spain, with Ross Persons pulling out a 3 hour plus match at #2 singles; Sal Castillo lost at #1 singles in straight sets but Sal and Ross won the doubles in straight sets to put the team in the final. There Persons was beaten badly at #2 singles, but Sal won at #1 singles, sending them down to the deciding doubles match. There France won the dou bles in straight sets to win the Perry Cup. USA finished 2nd.
Austria Cup, men’s 55s, reached the final but lost 2-1 in the final at Belek. Armistead Neely won at #2 singles, Larry Turville lost soundly at #1 singles, and Landauer/Newman lost the doubles. USA finished 2nd.
Women’s 35s, Suzanne Lenglen Cup: USA finished 5th, beating South Africa today, taking both singles points, with Jessica Schlotterback playing #2 and Julie Cass #1 singles. Spain won the Lenglen Cup.
Women’s 40s, Young Cup, also won today, beating Great Britain. They also finished 5th. France won the Lenglen Cup
Women’s 45s, Court Cup, beat Great Britain 2-1 to finish third. Myke Bodisch lost at #2 singles to Christine French, Fran Chandler beat Anthea Stuart and Mary Dailey/Susan Love took the doubles point. France won the Court Cup.
Women’s 50s, Bueno Cup. USA WON!!!! Susan Wright made it interesting at #2 singles, dropping the first 13 points of the match before her feet started moving against Lyn Mortimer of Australia. She then forged a 5-4 lead in the set before dropping it 7-5. Wright won the second set 6-2 as her opponent erred more and Susan was more aggressive. The play in the third set was very good. Australia led 5-3, 30-0 on Susan’s serve, one break of serve, then Susan played several aggressive points and won that game (Australia didn’t lose the game, Susan just raised her game). There were several more close games, but Susan won them all to close out the win 57 62 75. Whew! We knew at that point that our chances were very good of winning the cup as the Ace Player, Diane Fishburne was up next. She played as we expected, without mercy, and beat the Aussie #2, Paula Bongetti, 61 61 to win the Cup for the USA. Robin Harris/Carolyn Nichols completed the sweep, beating Bongetti/Kerry Young 62 61.
Women’s 55s, Connolly Cup: USA WON!!!! USA beat Netherlands 2-1 in the final. Ginnard started the USA off well with a decisive win at #2 singles. Tina Karwasky scored a straight set win over Nora Blom at #1 singles to win the cup. Blom and her teammate beat Kathy Bennett/Kathy Barnes in 3 sets to win the doubles point, and Bennett was sore all over from a tumble she took during that match.
The weather was fine today and so was the play. Bill Kellogg the USA’s ITF seniors representative, arrived to see the final day of play, as did several other players who had arrived for the world championships, such as Steve Cornell, Ching Ling Chang, Toni Novack and a few others.
The center court stands were filled for one of the deciding Cup matches today and the atmosphere at some of the matches was electric, lots of chanting going on, and patriotism, but all in good spirit. It’s a special atmosphere.
The world championships, inidividual begin tomorrow. The draws should be posted now at www.92computing.com (go to current CAT tournaments).