The USA Bueno Cup team again had a come from behind victory against France in the final. Tracy Houk played well in a loss to Catherine Suire, a former tour player with lots of weapons. Ros Nideffer though won comfortably at #1 singles and then combined with Vicki Buholz to cement the win with an emphatic 62 60 win in doubles. Fran Chandler coached the players all day.
The USA Connolly Cup team retained the Cup when they beat Great Britain in the final for the third straight year. Susan Wright was pushed by Sue Bartlett (who lives in Tennessee but plays for GBR). She was up 61 52 when the wind came up and Bartlett started finding more depth on her serves and groundstrokes. Bartlett won four straight games before Susan stemmed the tide to force a tiebreaker. Bartlett went up 6-3 and had 5 set points in all before Susan clinched the win on her fourth match point, winning the breaker 14-12. Diane Barker made short work of the British #1, Frances Candy, spotting her a game then taking 12 in a row to win the Cup.
The USA Austria Cup team had to finish a rain delayed doubles match against Germany in the morning which went three sets (USA had a match point in the 2nd set tiebreak but failed to convert). Then they played Great Britain, led by world #1 Paul French, in the final. Peter Markes got the USA off to a good start, winning in three sets at #2 singles. Mark Vines, world #2, had a set point in the first set but failed to close out the set and lost it 75. French won the second set too, and the match was to be decided by the doubles. Sal Castillo and Wesley Cash played the doubles and fell in straight sets. The USA was the silver medalist.
The USA Dubler Cup team reached the final and they played France on Saturday. Mario Tabares played #2 singles. He played a fantastic match on the center court before hundreds of enthusiastic and engage spectators. Mario also seemed to be the crowd favorite due to his serve/volley style. After dropping the first set 6-0 and going down a break in the second, he worked his way back into the match and took the second set. The third set was mostly on serve and very close. Mario had two match points, which were break points leading 6-5, but his opponent just played too well on both points. Both players hit some spectacular shots in the breaker, unfortunately, at 5-5, Mario serving, one was a terrific down the line backhand pass which gave the Frenchman a match point. He converted and it was 1/0 France. France quickly made it 2/0 when Jeff Tarango, USA, lost at #1 singles. The USA won the silver medal in this competition.
The USA Lenglen Cup team also lost to France 2/0, but in the semis. They played Switzerland Saturday in the bronze medal match. Mary Dailey, a doubles specialist successfully coached the singles players to victories. Patricia Zerdan won at #2 singles and Sophie Woorons-Johnston won at #1, both in straight sets. Carolina Blouin rooted on the team all day.
In other play, Justin Touchstone (Weston) was a member of the USA Italia Cup team which lost its final match to Australia and finished 10th. Trish Riddell and Mary Dailey were members of the Young Cup team which finished 8th.
The USA also won the women’s Bueno and Connolly Cups and finished second in the men’s Austria Cup. The USA finished 6th in the Court Cup, 7th in the Perry Cup and 14th in the Trabert Cup.
In other Cup play, the USA Young Cup team (W40) finished 8th; the Court Cup team (W45) finished 6th; the Italia Cup team (M35) finished 10th; the Trabert Cup team (M40) finished 13th and the Perry Cup team (M50) finished 7th.
For all results go to itftennis.com/seniors.
