Draws and results can be found here.
Monday in the Desert brought high winds (fortunately, most were away from the main venue). The geography of the Palm Springs area with mountains surrounding this Desert Oasis, means that some areas may have 40 mile an hour winds while others only 10 minutes away will be nearly calm.
I looked outside this morning and where I am staying, not far from Interstate 10, it was extremely windy. However, we hit about 12 miles further south west it was calm, as it was at Shadow Mountain Resort, the main venue (the other venues were windy). It was another hot (high 90s) day in the Desert…I’m glad I have had a few days to acclimate to the heat.
I had lunch with my parents and sister and her husband (whom I’d not seen for a year..my sister and spouse, not my parents.). All of us have been vaccinated so it was a nice and safe visit.
Before and after lunch I went back to Shadow Mountain to watch some of the action and caught up with some old friends…Andrea Barnes and Shannon Gordon Carney who were getting ready to hit; Julie David holding down the NWTO fort, Bob Litwin & Les Buck; Anne Kerwin Payne and Lindsey Montero, Kathy Settles, Jodi Rea and more.
Here are some results stating with the women’s singles & doubles today:
Unseeded Pernilla Putnik won the 45 singles over Tanya O’Neill in a terrific three set battle, one a lefty, one a righty and both hitting the cover off the ball, with both power and spin. Played on the front court following the marathon 50s final, it was a good front court match.
Marlo Carruth, seeded 1, edged Michele Rudi, in an interesting battle. Rudi won the first set and looked close to winning in straight sets when leading 5-0 in the 2nd set tiebreak; Carruth never stopped battling and rallied to win the tiebreak and the third set 64. Rudi is a very good counterpuncher and kept the ball mostly out of Carruth’s strike zone but Carruth found the courage to go forward and hit out on her forehand at key times.
Julie Silveria/Mary Beth Williams cruised past Lisa Traylor/Krista Oconnor to win the 50 doubles.
In the 55s, Christina Kaus upset #2 seed Jenny Keller 64 16 63, and said it was the best win she’d ever posted. Kaus kept the ball deep, moved and passed well to win the nearly three hour battle…after which she was told she had only 30 minutes to rest before doubles! (USTA 2021 FAC would beg to differ). Keller, with partner Judy Newman avenged her singles loss to Kaus, decisively winning the doubles semis over Kaus/Maria Nunez. They face Anne Kerwin-Payne/Lindsay Montero who also advanced in straight sets.
The 60s and older divisions start play tomorrow.
The men’s results are below
Shibu Lal, seeded third, edged top seeded Jesse Shouton to reach the 40s final vs JR Chidley, the 2nd seed. Lal is quick and throws a lot of different looks at his opponents.
In the 45s, Jesse Walter, seeded 1, will face Nicholas Chasseray in the final. Chasseray followed up his win yesterday over #2 Ryan Pang with another straight set win, this one over #3 William Casas .
In men’s 50s, Kevin Smith is the last unseeded player in the semis. He faces #3 Dana Gill while #2 Jeff Greenwald takes on #5 Brendan Murphy.
The seeders did a perfect job in men’s 55s: Dan Goldie (1) will play #3 Craig Hiddleston while Peter Smith (2) takes on #4 Leland Rolling.
The men’s 60s are out to the round of 16 with only 2 upsets today, of 9-16 seeds: Tom Breece upset Mark Weil in 3 sets; and Jonathon Fears was edged by Alexander Pier. David Seibel advanced again; he beat a #9 seed yesterday.
In the 65s, David Wilson pulled off the only upset to date, beating #9 Rudy Sanchez.
In Men’s 70s, Mike Talmadge beat #9 David Kueffer; #9 James Quenzler withdrew from the tournament allowing Phil Landauer to advance to the round of 16.
All the seeds in the Men’s 75 had byes today.
In men’s 50 & 55 doubles, the seeders again were stellar, with all four seeds reaching the semis. Rick Leach, former world #1 is playing 55 doubles with Vivek Varma and they won in 3 sets today.
The seeds haven’t started yet in the 60 and up divisions.
There’s also mixed…more on that tomorrow, particularly the 50-80s which are Gold ball/USTA Level 1/ITF S700 (normally S1000, but only S700 since players from other countries for the most part can’t get into the USA to play them).