Today I was able to play my first round match, against a German woman, and I won 60 60.  We played a a venue that was new to me, Son Beso Club, which was a nice club, but the courts were quite different, very soft, slow, full of bad bounces…I didn’t mind them, but they were a lot slower than the ones at the other sites here. This tournament has 4 venues and all have about 10-12 courts, it’s really a huge event, women’s 40-75 and men’s 40-80, though some age divisions have been combined.

The doubles draws were posted today, and Mariana Hollman and I were seeded 1 in the 45 doubles, which was laughable, given that the current world champions in the 45s, Olga Shapnishikova (OK, misspelled…) and Lesley O’Halloran are in the draw (#2 seed) and it’s 45. Olga and Lesley have won the worlds several times. The singles draws are definitely tougher than the doubles and mixed here. There are no ranking points for either nor any prize money, and the entry fee is the same to enter singles only as to enter singles and doubles.

One  thing I noticed here…in the US, stairs are usually off the side and a second thought, for a fire escape, and sometimes hidden, whereas the elevators are large and obvious? Here it’s the opposite, the elevators are basically for transporting heavy objects which have no feet (eg luggage, laundry carts etc), and are small…most hold 4 people max…and the stairs are wide, and central, nice looking and obvious and most everyone uses the stairs, even for the 4th and 5th floors.

I changed hotels today, to the main venue, which was not available earlier. I can see the courts from my room, and it’s a nice view. Also, this hotel has internet access… in the lobby only, the other one did not, even in the lobby!

Tomorrow I play a much tougher opponent, from Great Britain, a seeded player, in the round of 16, and Mariana also plays a seed in the quarters.