The second day of play at Pensacola brought a repeat performance of great weather, and a lot of upsets in the 50’s and marathons in the 40’s.
In the 40’s, 3 of the 4 seeds had to go 3 sets to reach the semis, but the 4 seeds did all reach the semis.
Renata Marcinkowska led Ellen Markowitz by a set and 4-1. At that point, Ellen upped her consistency, and Marcinkowska became a little impatient. Markowitz also began moving forward more and attacking. She won 5 games in a row to win the 2nd set. Marcinkowska changed her shoes, her clothes and regained her patience, winning the third set 6-3. The match was played in good spirit and ended with a hug at the net.
Fran Chandler played for over 4 hours before beating Tiina Smith, whose game is improving with each tournament. Smith won the first set 75, and Chandler took the 2nd 63. By that time Chandler was cramping, but so was Smith. Chandler prevailed 6-0 in the third. It was the 4th time these 2 had played in 2005, but the first time that Smith had won a set, and by far their longest match.
Chandler next plays Marcinkowska, in a repeat of the BallenIsles final in January.
Marianna Hollman drove through the night to reach Pensacola from North Carolina. She arrived after a 9 hour drive at 1:30am, and at 11am faced Myke Bodish, a local favorite with one of the prettiest games around, especially her 1-handed backhand. Myke won the 1st set 64, lost the 2nd 60, then was battling in the third when she cramped. She drank some pickle juice, played on, but Hollman improved her footwork, quit making errors and fought hard to win the third 62, in a aset that was closer than the score would indicate.
Yorke beat Susan Boyer 61 63, in a match Susan described as "short" (only 2 hours). York faces Hollman next in what is sure to be an animated semifinal.
The 50’s saw the 3, 4, and 5 seeds fall in close battles. Janet Bezmalinovich, seeded third and playing her first ever clay court tournament, met up first round with Elizabeth Bohac, who was so happy to be back on the court after a spate of injuries. Bohac’s experience showed against the athletic Californian in her 75 63 win. The last game went on for a dozen or more deuces before Bohac finally closed out the match.
Rita Anderson, a reluctant 4th seed, fell to Sue Sprague of California in 3 sets.
Debbie Burgess, the 5th seed, lost a very long 2-set battle to Miriam Morey 75 75. They had very long and exhausting rallies (Burgess was exhausted at least), and the match lasted nearly 3 hours.
The matchups tomorrow are Nichols/Morey, Bohac/Froehling, Morgan/Sprague, and Bronson/Simpson.