The 55s: Ginnard Wins Two Gold Balls:
Mary Ginnard won her first ever grass court singles title, edging her doubles partner, Tina Karwasky 76 in the third in the final. She rallied from 0-3 down in the third to win. She didn’t have an easy road to the final, barely getting past Ching Ling Chang in the quarters (winning 75 in the third), though she had an easy time with Leslie Pixley in the semis. Kawarsky, in contrast, was never pressed en route to the final, beating this year’s clay court finalist, Liz Leigh in the quarters, then Molly Hahn, who is always tough on grass, in the semis before falling to Ginnard.
Hahn took out the 2005 champion, Anne Guerrant in the quarters, 26, 3-3 ret injury. A round earlier, Peggy Machoian beat last year’s finalist, Barb Mueller 75 63, but then fell in three sets to Pixley in the quarters. Hahn beat Pixley 62 62 to win the bronze ball.
Chang rebounded to win the feed-in final over Mueller, 57 61 ret.
Ginnard/Karwasky dominated the doubles. They lost only three games in their four match romp to the title. Two of the games lost were in the final to the two-time defending champions, Hahn/Kathy Bennett. Bennett/Hahn escaped with a three set win in the semis over Cindy LePrevost/Lil Peltz-Petow 64 in the third. LePrevost/Peltz-Petow won the bronze ball with a decisive 62 62 win over Margie Cooper/Mueller.
Cindy Babb/Susie Peiffer won the back draw over Machoian/Joan Oelschlager.
The 35s: Cass Three-Peats
Julie Cass won her third straight singles and doubles titles in the 35s at Merion this year. She beat the 2nd seed, Trish Riddell in the final and combined with Michelle King to beat Riddell/Mary Dailey in the final. Shari Webber upset the third –seeded King in the first round and reached the semis. Dailey bat Webber to place third; King finished 5th. Leisure/Long took the bronze.
The 45s: Koizumi Wins Singles; Thompson/Hollman Win Doubles
The 45s was the only division without a two-gold ball winner…but Yukie Koizumi came awfully close to a sweep of the grass court events these past two weeks. After cruising to the 40 singles and doubles titles at Forest Hills, she had a bit more of a struggle to take the 45s crown. She had a tough match with Hyacinth Yorke in the quarters, 75 62, then went three sets before subduing Mariana Hollman in the semis. However, she played flawlessly in the final, beating Susan Wright 63 61. Wright beat Myke Loomis 16 62 60 in the other semi. Loomis edged Susie Brown in the quarters before falling to Wright. Brown scored the only upset in the main draw, edging Jeanne Hulsen in three sets in the round of 16. Tracey Thompson scared Hollman in the quarters, but eventually fell to the 4th seed in three sets.
Loomis slipped on the grass and fell hard and badly in the first game of the playoff against Hollman. She injured her leg/back and was unable to continue and was also unable to play the playoff in doubles. Get well soon Myke.
The backdraw was very competitive, with Yorke being the only player to default in the entire backdraw. Mary Johnson (who lost early on to Yorke in the main draw 61 62), finished 5th, with a marathon win over Thompson 76 (6) in the third.
Thompson however went home with something Johnson would have traded that win for: a gold ball. She and Hollman did not drop a set in winning the title. Thompson/Hollman beat Koizumi/Abbi Neuthaler 75 64 in the final. Lori Fahrenholz/Kim Lackey won the bronze ball by the aforementioned default over Loomis/Wright and Brown/Johnson finished 5th in doubles.