heat…longing for winter…then come to the Marin Seniors where the
natural air conditioner (fog) keeps the daytime temperatures moderate
(though I heard it was warm on the first couple of days of the
tournament)…by the weekend it was in teh 60s and 70s sunny and not
too windy.The tennis on the weekend featured some really good matchups.
The events offered were 35-65 M/W S/D and 100+ and 100- combined age (min age 35) mixed.
Women’s:
Mai Ichikawa won the 35s, avenging her loss to Valerie McKinney here
last year with a 64 62 win…lots of long rallies in this match. Mai
and Carolyn Wei won the doubles.
Carolyn Wei won the 40s, fresh off her first national title, beating
tournament referee Chrissie Costamagna in the final. Chrissie works a
demanding job full time, volunteers for USTA NorCal, works with Special
Olympics, referees tournaments…and plays national tournaments and
leagues…someone who gives back a lot to tennis. She also reached the
40 doubles final but her partner woke up ill so the 40 doubles title
went to Alyssa Finerman/Erika Smith.
Tracy Houk (thanks to the miracle of Celebrex :-)) played well to beat
Mary Johnson…lots of good points, but Tracy’s backhand was as lethal
as ever and finished off many points in her favor. Tracy and Judy
Rakela beat Jeanne Haskell/Karen Burns to take the doubles title.
I won the 50s, edging Phyllis Blackwell in three sets…in a match
closer than the score indicated. Carrie Zarraonandia and Helle Viragh
won the 50s doubles over Shelly Thigpen/Diane DiMartini.
Tina Karwasky was flawless in the 55s final, beating Martha Downing 60
62. She used the length and the width of the court and didn’t let
Martha rally or work her way into a point…she just took control off
the return and the serve. She also moved really well. She also won the
doubles with Ellen Carlton 62 62 over Downing/Leslie Vallejo.
Greta Watson survived 2 long three set matches to win the 60s, first
beating Sandra Adams, then Heather Fiscallini. Bryson/Gay won the
doubles over Hillebrand/Meigs.
Charleen Hillebrand won the 65 singles over Brooks Byrd.
Shibu Lal, a classic counterpuncher, quick, slice backhand, playing
pretty far back in the court, edged Jake Bragoinier, an aggressive
baseliner, 2 handed backhand, 63 64. The 2nd set was a dogfight with
Jake rebounding from 0-3 to tie the set at 4-4. Lal fought for the last
2 games and after winning the match collapsed on the court with cramps
(we were playing next to them). He recovered to win the 35 men’s
doubles but not the mixed.
Other men’s singles winners were:
Curtis Dunn,Kevin Pope, Nigel O’Rourke, Geoff Cykman, Brent Abel, and Douglas
Kurdys in men’s 40-65 respectively.
For all results, click here.