The semis were played today at the hard courts in La Jolla…still a "May Gray" Day (the newspaper predicted the sun would come out on May 23).
Susan Wright played a nearly flawless match against Robin Harris in the 50 singles. The two played in the semis of the worlds 2 weeks ago, in a long 3 set match in which Robin held 4 match points. But today, half a world away and on a hard court, Susan hit winner after winner to take the match 60 61. One spectator said that Susan made only 4 unforced errors the entire match.
Diane Fishburne beat me again, also a repeat of the semis of the world championships 2 weeks ago, this time 62 61 in about 90 minutes (we started a few minutes before Susan and Robin and they finished before we completed the first set). Diane hit lots of winners.
So the final will be a repeat of the final of the world championships 2 weeks ago, which Diane won.
In the 70s, Kathy Langer gave Dorothy Matthiessen all she could handle. Kathy started out strongly, forging a 5-2 lead, Dorothy rallied to level the set at 5-5 and then 6-6, but Kathy pulled out the tiebreaker. The second set also went to at tiebreaker and Kathy led 5-2. During the ensuing point, a ball rolled into the court, a let was played, and that distracted Kathy just enough to let Dorothy into the set. Dorothy pulled out the 2nd set and then rolled through the third. It was a 3.5 hour match. In contrast, Dori deVries beat Roz King 62 63 to reach the final here for the 2nd straight year, and unusually, Dori will be the better rested player in the final.
In the 60s, Brenda Carter played a great match to beat her doubles partner 62 63. She will place home town favorite Suella Steel in the final. Suella beat Charleen Hillebrand, the defending champion, 75 in the third to reach the final.
Irene Shepard remained undefeated in the 80s, rolling past last year’s winner, Rita Price 62 61. She faces Betty Eisenstein in the final. Betty beat Cathie Hall 63 62 to reach the final. It will be a repeat of last month’s clay court final.
Robin Harris/Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein played a steady match to oust Diane Fishburne/Rita Anderson 62 64.
The 90s are playing here too and Dodo was on court one today, playing Bea Greene. Bea had retired from tennis, or so she thought….but Dodo persuaded her to "unretire". Loucille Scoggins was scouting the match, in anticipation of entering the 90s in 2009 (that’s preparation).