Kateriina Stanford of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida won a silver medal in Women’s 35 doubles and a bronze medal in Women’s 35 singles at the ITF Young Seniors World Individual Championships. Amanda Parson-Siegel (Henderson, NV) and Mutsumi Shirai (New York, NY) teamed to reach the semis of the Women’s 40 doubles and thus won bronze medals. Shirai also reached the semis of the 40 mixed (with Thierry Delay of Switzerlan). The Championships were played near Antalya, Turkey, at Ali Bey Manavgat.
Stanford, and Parson Siegel were first time participants at the ITF World Team and Individual championships As members of the USA’s Suzanne Lenglen Cup team they helped the team to a 6th place finish in this prestigious international team competition, which is the equivalent of Fed Cup for adults 35 and over.
Shirai, another rookie to the ITF World Championships was a member of the bronze medal winning USA Young Cup team for women 40 and over.
Stanford, though unseeded, reached the singles semis, losing to last year’s world champion in that round, but beat the #3 seed in the round of 16. In doubles, she partnered with Dominique Levin of Germany. They beat the top seeds from Brazil in the first round the #3 seeds from Germany in the semis. In the final lost by the narrowest of margins to the #2 seeds, Stefanie Kolar and Svenja Weidemann of Germany: 16 64 1-0 (11-9) after leading 8-5 in the match tiebreak! Kolar and Weidemann won the deciding doubles in the team event the previous week.
Parson Siegel and Shirai were unseeded but had great runs to the semis.Parson Siegel also reached the quarters of the 40 singles. Amanda Parson Siegel and Mutsumi Shirai are shown below.
Josh Osswald (Covington, KY) and Shelly Works (San Antonio, TX) also participated in the individual world championships but didn’t medal.
For more information on the ITF Young Seniors World Team and Individual World Championships, click on one of the following links: