Tuesday October 19, 2021
Today I warmed up again with Sabine Schmitz even though I didn’t play till 2pm…it was good to hit early regardless. I watched the first set of Sabine’s match with Carmen Chillida. Sabine won it comfortably 63 and I left as it was noon and I thought Sabine had the match under control…which she did but she won 63 16 61. Carmen is very calm and methodical and has excellent passing shots and was moving well. Sabine has more firepower and was attacking well and mixing up her offense with drops, angles and volleys. Elsewhere (at Na Taconara), Pat Medrado allowed Benedicte Legrand only one game though Benedict said she had so many game points, but on all of them Medrado played great points and hit almost zero unforced errors. And she said Pat’s backhand was unreadable. Pat had a world ranking on the WTA tour of 48 in singles and 9 in doubles. She’ll play her doubles partner tomorrow (as I will), Tina Karwasky, who beat Caroline Glaszmann 75 63. Tina. had a WTA ranking high of 88. I beat Dagmar Sperneder 61 60; Dagy played well and hit some great drop shots and forehands. She certainly had the crowd behind her, there were even fans in the balconies off the hotel rooms above the courts yelling out her name, and any winner she hit was received with a roar of approval (my winners, not so much, but to be fair, the crowd didn’t applaud my errors).
Later in the afternoon, I returned to the courts to watch some of the Americans play and found Liana Bryson watching Donna Fales and Dean Corley play in the 75 mixed. Donna just turned 80, but runs more like she’s 10-15 years younger. Donna reached the singles and doubles quarters at Wimbledon and Roland Garros and the singles semis and doubles final at Forest Hills where she also won the mixed in 1966. She was ranked in the top 10 in the USA seven times during the 1960s. She also captained the USA Fed Cup team. Dean and Donna played the #2 seeds, Chris Ornstein and Christine Baron and won 75 64 in a highly entertaining match. On one point there was a high ball and Dean called the overhead…after which Donna calmly put the ball away. Donna complimented Christine on her down the line forehand and I thought Donna moved unbelievably well, she seems to see the ball so early.
There were some upsets around the grounds; In women’s 70s, top seeded Heidi Eisterlehner lost to a Belgian player she beat twice last week in the team competition. Heide Froeysok, winner of the marathon match yesterday, advanced to the semis and will meet Heidi’s conqueror there. Gudula Eisemann upset top seeded Sylvie Galfard-Kirsten decisively (and beat her in the Cup too but in a tight 3-setter); she plays Heide Orth next (who beat Marja Liisa Hedman, her conqueror last week in the Queens Cup);
In other action:
Dan Waldman advanced to the quarters in the 65s and takes on the #2 seed, Czech Radovan Cizek. Doug Ditmer/Dan Grossman and Danny Shaw play men’s 65 doubles tomorrow and Shaw is in mixed semis. Michael Beautyman and Donald Long both advanced to the 75 singles quarters; Beautyman/Les Buck and Miguel Cordova advanced to the semis but Corley/Long were upset in a match tiebreak by an Italian team in men’s 75. However Corley/Fales are in the 75 mixed semis. In men’s 80s, Robert Anderman lost to Italian Roberto Fumgalli in a match tiebreak. Anderman/Thomas Brunkow though are in the semis of the doubles and face Jaime Pinto Bravo/Peter Pokorny in the semis. Fales takes on top seeded Elisabeth Von Boemmel in the 80s semis (my $$$ is on Donna to win that one) while Fales/Dorothy Wasser have been waiting for a few days to play their doubles semi. As are Suella Steel/Pokorny. In the men’s 85s, three of the four players left are Americans with only Herbert Althaus, the #2 seed victorious against a USA player (he took out Chuck Nelson); #1 King Van Nostrand takes on unseeded Herb Althaus (who beat the #3 seed) and Althaus will play Ned Buckman, who advanced after winning a match tiebreak over Peter Jessen. Buckman/Nelson and Van Nostrand are in the doubles semis.
