Today again was a terrific day for indoor tennis. Here’s the temperature reading when I got out of my car this morning around 7:30:

Yes, that’s right, it was 41 degrees…and did I mention it was also raining? In fact there was snow, the white stuff in some northern suburbs. So it was really nice to go indoors to play tennis!

Susan and I both played today at 9am. I played Kim Zebot, the fourth seed, for the third time this year. We’d played twice on clay and I thought indoors she’d give me problems, since she has a nice serve and some big ground strokes and a good net game. I played well though today and moved well and won 60 60. Susan played the third seed, Kathy Vick and won 61 62 and still finished before Kim and I did.

We had a little over four hours till our doubles, scheduled for 2:30. After lunch I practiced my serve and Susan snoozed and I also watched some of the 35s doubles final between Julie Ogborne/Jami Patterson and Kristin Diehl/Yulia Bolotova. Diehls is still 34; Yulia 35 and Julie and Jami are in the 45s. The younger duo were very quick and prevailed in two sets. The tennis was very good, lots of long points and lots of net play, fun to watch.

Julie Cass beat Anna Zimmermann in the 45 semis while Shelly Works got a walkover. Yulia beat Kristen to win the 35s.

We played Kathy Vick/Kim Steinmetz, as I’ve written before, college teammates at Trinity. Kim is now from St. Louis and Kathy from Lubbock, TX. We started ok but let some early leads go and at 2-2 Kim and Kathy upped their game, with Kathy coming to net more and Kim roving all over the net. We also made some errors and they served and returned and pressured well to win the first set 64. We got an early break in the second, but didn’t hold it and eventually I was serving at 4-5 in the second to stay in the match, having lost my serve the previous time I’d served…what is it Billie Jean King says…”Pressure is a privilege”? I guess I was very privileged then today, because I felt pressure, especially at 15-30, but we hung on and won the game and then the set 76 (2). Susan took over! We were down in the first few games of the second set but fought back and won them and the set 61, playing more aggressively  (especially Susan, she was both setter and terminator at times) and more consistently. For me, it was my 30th gold ball; for Susan, it’s a much higher number!

Anne Lowry and Kim Lackey won the bronze over Burgess/Drosner handily. They are a solid team.

The 45s are playing a round robin in doubles; the big matches are tomorrow.

And here’s the temp when I got back to my hotel this evening…..bone chilling cold. Glad I have my Uniqlo down jacket to keep me warm.