Smith earns first singles gold; Riddell Hands Zerdan first 35s loss; Top Seeds Wright, Carter, DeVries Prevail
In the round robin event that was the 35s, Trish Riddell upset Patricia Zerdan in three sets to win the gold. Zerdan took silver and Mary Beth Williams the bronze. It was Zerdan’s first loss in the 35s. She won the Gold Slam in 2010 in 35 singles. Riddell had a good 40s grass and that prepared her well for this week. Trish added the doubles title to her haul, teaming with Mary Dailey, the 2011 Gold Slam winner in 35 doubles. Ballard/Grooms took the silver and Cohen/Rodriguez the bronze.
Erika Smith won the 45s singles title over Ruth Hessert, after taking out Anna Zimmerman in three sets in the semis. Anna was this year’s clay court champion and won the ¾ playoff handily. . Smith placed fifth in singles at the indoors. Zimmerman combined with Judy Van Raalte to edge Dailey/Smith 76 (1) 76 (8) in the final. Ballard/Grooms took bronze in the 45s doubles.
The 55s went more true to form at least in the final. Susan Wright and Tina Karwasky lost only 1 game between them in the semis, but had a three set battle in the final, won by Susan 64 06 64. They then teamed up to beat Pat Purcell/Kim Jones in straight sets in the doubles final. Jones, the #3 seed and Purcell, the #4 seed, were ousted by Robyn Russell and Betsy Savitt, respectively in their first round singles matches. Coming through to the semis were Savitt and Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein, and Chris won the bronze when Savitt retired, down a set and 3-1 with an injury. Chris teamed with Julie David to take the bronze over Debbie Burgess/Donna Drosner. Wright is ¾ of the way to a gold slam in 55 doubles with only the hard courts to go; Karwasky is ¾ of the way to a 60s singles/doubles gold slam with only the indoors to go in a few weeks.
Top seeded Brenda Carter avenged her loss of a year ago in the final to Leslie Pixley, her 2012 Kitty Godfree Cup teammate, beating her in straight sets in the final. She had to go three sets though to beat her doubles partner, Betty Wachob in the semis. Wachob placed third, beating Judy Louie 67 64 1-1 ret. Injury, but Louie/Lee Delfausse won the doubles title over Carter/Wachob in three sets. Bradley/Grant upset the 3 & 4 seeds to take the bronze. Carter is ¾ of the way to a gold slam in singles, with only the hard courts to go.
Dori deVries didn’t’ t drop a set in singles in the 75s, beating Burnett Herrick in the final. Herrick had to go to 10-8 in the third set tiebreak to beat Roz King in the semis, winning 67 63 76 (8). King beat Caroline Hayes for the bronze.
The doubles ended up in a three way tie: deVries/Carol Wood beat King/Smith; King/Smith beat Herrick/Wasser and Herrick/Wasser beat deVries/Wood. I think King/Smith won because they lost the fewest games, but the other two are tied in games…
Link to results: http://tennislink.usta.com/TOURNAMENTS/TournamentHome_New/Tournament.aspx?T=115177