Wednesday October 20, 2021

Draws are here. 

Photos are here

Today was semifinal day for some divisions and quarters for others. I played the semis of the 65 singles against my doubles partner Sabine Schmitz and won 62 63…she came on strong towards the end, I nearly had the 51 game but Sabine came up with some good volleys, as she did throughout the match, and nice drop shots too. I scrambled and kept my errors low.

Pat Medrado from Brazil looked great against her doubles partner Tina Karwasky in the other semi. Medrado, who won’t turn 65 till late next month, moved great and has a lovely topspin backhand. Tina attacked constantly but Medrado countered and made very few errors. Tina grabbed the 51 game though, coming back from I think 0-40 down, she never quit attacking.

We had no doubles; our next opponents played this afternoon…we play Hildegard Bruggaber and Christiane Deryckere (my first round singles opponent) in the semis tomorrow and the singles final is scheduled for Friday.

After my match I went and hit some balls with Donna Fales who is not getting enough tennis here for her liking. She beat the #1 seed today 61 60 and is in the singles final and semis of mixed and women’s doubles. I had never hit with Donna before and she hits a great ball.

USA Update:

Danny Waldman, seeded in the 5-8 group, beat the #2 seed 62 60 today in men’s 65s to advance to the semis tomorrow. In men’s 65 doubles, Doug Ditmer/Dan Grossman and will face American Danny Shaw (playing with Peter Heller of Switzerland) in the semis tomorrow. Donald Long lost a long three setter in men’s 75 singles while Michael Beautyman won his long three-setter to advance to the semis. In men’s 75 doubles, George Balch and Karel Placek lost 10-8 in the match tiebreak to Chris Ornstein (who upset Peter Adrigan in singles today) and Roger Taylor (a last minute substitute after the other teams reached the semis…though Ornstein hadn’t played a doubles match yet) for Johannes Muehlenburg. Roger Taylor just turned 80 (so Ornstein is playing with 80 year old partners in 75 doubles and mixed), and is “that” Roger Taylor…the one with a high ATP rank of 11, the one who won two US Open doubles titles, the one who reached the semis of Wimbledon three times! He is a lefty but now serves right and plays lefty due to shoulder issues. Come her for the results and stay for the history lesson. In the 80s, Donna Fales “upset” the top seed, Elisabeth Van Boemmel 61 60 (hitting tons of drop shots the process) to advance to the Friday final against the #2 seed, Irmgard Gerlatzka. In men’s 85 doubles, Helmut Lotz and Gerhard Specht upset #1 King Van Nostrand (USA)/Werner Marx 64 64 while Chuck Nelson/Ned Buckman fell to Herb Althaus/Wilfried Mahler in straight sets. In consolation, Dean Corley (M75) and Liana Bryson (W70) won while Adrienne Sprouse lost.

A few upsets today besides the ones Donna Fales and Dan Waldman; Peter Adrigan lost to Chris Ornstein; Bruno Renault took out the top seed in the 70s, Jairo Velasco (maybe only an upset on paper?); And Andrew Rae fell in a tough, long 3-setter to Claus Pedersen in men’s 70s; Barbara Von Ende beat #2 Suzy Burggraf and Gudula Eisemann followed up her upset of #1 Silvie Galfard-Kirsten with a 62 75 win over Heide Orth. Apparently Eisemann was a very good player who took about 10 years off and has reappeared the last year. In women’s 85, the #1 and #2 seeds lost June Pearce (1) to Odile Niox Chateaux and Marielle Gallay to Alejandrino Pinedo from Mexico. There may have been some I missed but those are the ones I noticed.