Draws are here. 

Photos are here.

A weather forecaster is somewhat like a good baseball hitter…hitting .333 or forecasting correctly 50% of the time will let the hitter/forecaster keep one’s job! Fortunately, the all day rain forecasted did not pan out and after a two-three hour rain delay play was continuous. And to be fair there were some sprinkles throughout the afternoon, just not enough to halt play.

I played #2 seeded Jeanie MacEachern from Nova Scotia, Canada. We played earlier in the year under much different conditions at the World Championships (where it was hot, steamy, humid) and the courts were dry. Today the weather was calm, the courts were soft and slow and the altitude (about 3000 feet) gave my balls lift and depth. And the conditions were pretty perfect for drop shots (I’ve been watching the French Open too). I won in straight sets after which we jokingly asked about the awards ceremony (we were given medals by the tournament director Jacques and Tennis Canada Rep, Irwin, in the parking lot by the signs).

Tomorrow we start the doubles. We entered 65s, but since there weren’t any entrants will play in the 60s where we start with a pretty decent team, probably Sheila Cunningham and Kelly Stobbe.

This tournament had 304 participants this year…when it began it had far less than 100. In fact this tournament had more participants than the ITF 1000 taking place this week in Croatia! There’s clearly a lot of pent up demand for tournaments up here in Canada, not many have been held since 2019.

Americans’ results to date (not all of Thursday’s results have been published.)

• Robert Anderman won the men’s 80s despite having to play two singles matches yesterday.
• Michael Beautyman played the men’s 75 final today and seemed to be winning when I left to play. He drove from Florida up here! He was playing John Tibbits in the final. * Update: Beautyman won 62 64
• William Berry lost first round I the men’s 80.
• Jason Carr lost first round, M50 but won his opening doubles match and has reached the quarters.
• Cranston Darris, M70 lost to #3 Brian Arseneault in the second round and fell in M65 doubles.
• Vince Horcasitas is in the quarters of men’s 55 and upset #2 Andre Lambert second round.
• Dan Grossman is in the men’s 70 doubles with Andrew Rae (AUS) but play is just beginning (Andrew won the 70 singles though). This duo reached the final of the world championships last month.
• Diane Johnston was in a 5 person round robin (which looks like a mathematicians dream to figure out the winner of) in women’s 75 but despite some good matches is in last place.
• Michael Mullen, M70 lost first round
• Brendan Murphy, M50 won his first round convincingly and plays Richard Soucy tomorrow.
• Carolyn Nichols won W65 singles.

Here are a few other photos from today.