Order was restored in the women’s singles: Amy Alcini, the 2nd seed
edged Kathy Settles 61 in the third and Ros Fairbank Nideffer beat Sue
De Lara 63 62 (de Lara was limping around later with blisters on her
feet…she has blistering speed, so the fact that she ended up with
blisters is fitting). Overheard, Betty Ann Stuart (Taylor Dent’s mom) Grout, saying to Ros Nideffer, after congratulating Ros on her great singles play today…reminding Ros of her (Betty Ann’s) win over Ros in White City, SA…though Betty Ann did say Ros was about 12 at the time. There’s a plethora of former tour players at this event.
The doubles match of the day pitted Nideffer and Gretchen Magers (seeded 1) against former Wimbledon doubles winner Joanne Russell and Tracie Currie. Nideffer and Magers won but not before dropping the first set 62. Currie and Russell are both very aggressive players. Alissa Finerman/Erika Smith demolished Betty Ann and Wendy McColsky 61 61. Erika must have fully recovered from her food poisoning of a few days ago, since they beat a very good team very decisively.
In men’s singles, Jeff Greenwald, Peter Smith, Eoin Collins and Greg Failla reached the semis. Failla caused the biggest upset, beating the defending champion, Martin Barba 64 64. Greenwald beat Morgan Sheperd, the 4th seed, 63 61. Smith and Collins lost 3 games between them.
Shepherd had a bad day all around, on the court, as he also lost his doubles with Steve Willoughby to the 2nd seeds, Hernandez/Hoffman. Shepherd/Willoughby were up 54 40-15 on Hoffman’s serve in the first set, but escaped the break and lost only 1 more game during the match. Peter Smith/Jeff Tarango had a better start today than yesterday, beating Otten/Singer 63 61. Finnigan/Zanio and Cory Kepler complete the semifinalists.
For all results, click here.