Suella Steel said it was the best win of her life…her 75 62 win in the Germantown 65s final over her doubles partner, world champion Charleen Hillebrand. It wasn’t her first win this year over Charleen…but it was her best she said because it occurred on grass in the final. It was Steel’s second national singles title this year. She also edged Hillebrand in the indoor final and in the semis of the 60 hard courts. Hillebrand dominated their rivalry last year, and the two players have dominated the 65s the past two years.
Sheila Weinstock, a fine grass court player, beat Lurline Fujii in the 3/4 playoff. (Note that the seeds, 1-4, ended up 1, 2, 3, 4 in the final results…5-8 didn’t fare as well though.)
Jane Pang, showing her excellent grass court game, tore up the seeds in the back draw, (after losing to Weinstock in the main draw), beating Christa Gloge, Ria Graham and Grace Woo before scoring a straight set win over unseeded Joan Nevins.
Steel and Hillebrand continued their unbeaten streak in the 65s, winning their 7th straight national doubles title, 75 62 over Fujii/Pang. The third seeds, Carol Wood/Weinstock beat the 4th seeds, Belmar Gunderson/Retsy Wilson to win the bronze balls. Gloge/Roberta Sung, who fell in the main draw to Wood/Weinstock, finished 5th.
Mary Boswell continued her march towards a double Gold Slam, winning her third straight national 75 singles and doubles titles. She beat 2-time winner Suzanne Ryerson in the final, and combined with Louise Russ to beat Jeannette Weiland/Angie Ray for the third time this year (all in the final of a national). Boswell has not lost a singles set all year in the 75s.
Ryerson took out the clay court finalist, Lucille Kyvallos in the semis and Russ beat Kyvallos in the 3/4 playoff, avenging her loss to Kyvallos from the clay courts. Nancy Stout, consistent as always, finished 5th. She also combined with Nancy Kibbey to take the bronze ball over Zoe Williams/Peggy Winningham.
Dodo Cheney won the round robin singles and doubles in the 85s. She combined with Billie Burr, also 91 this year to win the 85 doubles over Loucille Scoggins/Lovie Beard and the singles order of finish was Cheney, Scoggins, Burr, Beard.