One of the longest win streaks in senior tennis (Rafa’s streak is still going) ended today when Dori deVries won the 70 hard courts over Dorothy Matthiessen in 3 sets. Dorothy won the singles gold slam in the 65s in 2004 and in the 70s in 2005 and 2006, but her run of wins in singles ended today when Dori played a great match to oust Dorothy in three sets. Dorothy gained a measure of revenge however in the doubles, combining with Burnette Herrick to win the gold over Dori and Roz King. Dorothy and Burnette won the first set comfortably, but found themselves down 5-2 in the second set as Roz put up some fine lobs and hit some good volleys, but Burnette settled down and anything Dorothy hit from then out did damage, and the top seeds won 62 75. Kathy Langer/Lyn Tietz rallied from a set down to beat Carol Wood and Mary Boswell 16 64 61 in the third place playoff.
Diane Fishburne also had to rally to win the 50 singles, as Susan Wright came out in the first set firing bullets and doing damage. Susan won the first set 63 before Diane dug in and took the final sets 62 63, winning lots of backhand exchanges according to one onlooker. It was a hard hitting match (one spectator commented that there were no moonballs in that match.). There were lots of moonballs in the third place playoff (mostly hit my me). I beat Robin Harris 60 61, but it was much closer than the score would indicate, over 90 minutes, and the penultimate game lasted 20 minutes according to some observers.
Susan combined with Kathy May Fritz to beat Robin and Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein 61 46 62. Susan and Kathy were leading comfortably, a set and 3-1, but then Robin and Chris stepped up their games and errors crept into Susan and Kathy’s game (Susan looked to be tiring). At 2-2 in the third though, the top seeds hit a higher gear their opponents couldn’t match, the errors disappeared and they ran out the final 4 games.
Betty Eisenstein took the gold in the 80 singles, avenging her final round loss at the 80 clay to Irene Shepard by beating her 64 64 here. Rita Price took the bronze and combined with Marian Tyrell to win the gold in doubles over Cathie Hall/Pat Niehaus. Phyllis Adler, playing her first tournament in several years, combined with a new "gold ball club" member, Marilyn Skiffington, to win the bronze over Lovie Beard/Loucille Scoggins.
Brenda Carter held off a late charge by Suella Steel (she led 61 3-0, then 5-0 in the tiebreaker and 6-4 before closing out the set 8-6 in the tiebreak) to win the 60 hard courts for the first time. She doubled her gold ball take here when she and Betty Wachob beat Suella Steel 62 63 in the doubles final. Betty and Brenda were backboard-like in the doubles, moving well and making few errors during the final. Charleen Hillebrand/Cathie Anderson took the bronze with a 3 set win over Carol Clay/Ellen Goodman. Betty Wachob beat Hillebrand 61 62 to win the bronze in singles.
Dodo won the 90 singles today over Jean Harris 61 62. The 90 doubles final is tomorrow morning. Pat Yeomans took the bronze over Bea Greene. The four are set to reconvene in Portland in August for the 90 indoors.