Today was a tough one on the singles court. I played Diane Barker, who, in her third year in the 55s had yet to lose a match in this division in singles. That remains the status quo after I played her today…I won the first game and she won the next 12, hitting deep, deeper deepest then, if I got another ball back, a nice angle volley. She didn’t make many errors, moved extremely well and hit deep and accurately…so I play Kim Zebot for the bronze tomorrow after Susan Wright beat her 62 62. She’s a very nice player and it will be a tough match.
In doubles Susan and I beat Rita Rector/Julie David 62 60. The biggest drama was a rain delay when we were up 41, but it wasn’t a long one. We play #4 seeded Erin Boynton/Abbi Neuthaler who won in three sets over tournament director Sue Bramlette and Leslie Murveit.
There were tons of good matches today in all divisions.
In the 35s, Meredith Walton ousted #3 seeded Gee Gee Garvin 75 in the third, rallying from 0-4 down in the final set. Yulia Bolotova and #4 seeded Julie Scott Thu played next to me and were hitting the ball very very hard. Bolotova though made more errors than the former Stanford star and Julie won 63 63. In doubles, the #4 seeds, Erika Smith/Mary Dailey, fell to Cynthia Rice/Kristen Samuelson in three sets.
In the 45s, while Jolene Watanabe played flawlessly to beat Shelly Works 61 60, Julie Cass, seeded 4, rallied from 15 down in the third set to beat Jenny Klitch. Cass/Vesna McKenna, the #2 seeds beat Klitch/Anna Zimmermann in one semi, while Smith/Alissa Finerman took out Dailey/Andrea Rice in three sets.
In the 65s, Carol Clay beat Anne Guerrant in straight sets in the only upset; she plays top seeded Brenda Carter in the semis while Molly Hahn (who rallied from a set down to beat Betty Wachob) plays Martha Downing. In doubles, the big upset was Barbara Hubbard/Janet Watanabe’s three set win over Wachob/Carter to reach their first final as a team. For Hubbard, it’s her first USTA final. They play Martha Downing/Kathy Bennett who bageled Clay/Ellen Goodman.
In the 75s, after all the upsets this week, the top 2 seeds, Dori deVries and Roz King reached the final. deVries edged Lyn Little in three sets and King won a close 2-setter over Ria Graham. In doubles deVries/King edged Herrick/Wasser in three sets while Little/Dorothy Matthiessen beat Carol Wood/Graham 60 75.