Draws (for those with USTA accounts only) are here.
The USTA National 50-90 Hard Courts (USTA Level 1/ITF MT 1000) finished a week in beautiful La Jolla, CA at the legendary La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.
In the 50s, the top four seeds reached the semis where Julie Thu beat Dina McBride 3,4 and Amanda Parson Siegel edged Kathy Settles 46 75 62. Thu won her umpteenth USTA singles title over Amanda 63 60 and Settles placed third 16 62 2/1 ret.
In doubles, the four seeds again reached the semis Thu/Francesca la O beat Settles/Gail Gibson 1, 4 in one semi and Parson Siegel/McBride beat Joanna Stewart/Kristin Gibson 4,4 in the other semi. The final was a terrific match; Thu never misses; la O was all over the net and Parson Siegel/McBride were aggressive throughout particularly in the second set. Thu/la O won 62 46 61. Settles/Gibson won the bronze 26 62 61.
The 60s was a very tough draw though there were some unfortunate injuries/retirements. #4 Stina Mosvold had to withdraw (back spasms) before playing a match; Shelly Works (5) sprained an ankle in practice and top-seeded Vicki Buholz hurt her knee before the semis after successfully running the gauntlet of the Bartlett sisters, Shelly (Sweeney) then Lindsay (Montero); Judy Newman reached the semis in Stina’s quarter, falling to Kathy Archibald 2,3 and Jenny Rens beat Ellen Markowitz (5) in the quarters before receiving a walkover from Buholz. Archibald won the final 36 64 61 to take home the gold and Newman took the bronze by default.
In doubles the top four seeds reached the semis. Buholz tried but was unable to play the doubles with Rens; they retired down 1/0 to #4 Archibald/Elly Hammargren. The other semi made up for that disappointment, with Mosvold/Christina Kaus (the 2025 world champions in W60 doubles) and #2 seeds playing the sisters, Shelly Bartlett Sweeney & Lindsay Montero. The match, according to everyone who was watching, was extremely high quality, won by Mosvold/Kaus 67 60 64. Archibald/Hammargren played a great final, with Hammargren all over the net and Archibald rock solid at the baseline, winning 63 64 in a well played match; Mosvold was also all over the net and Kaus was solid at the baseline…it just came down to a few points particularly in the second set.
The 70s singles had a very tough field. #4 seeded Tina Karwasky (last year’s singles finalist at the world championships) was edged 76(6) 62 by Andrea Barnes (5) in the quarters; top-seeded Betsy Kuhle then took out Barnes 63 76. Her doubles partner Una Davis dropped only three games in reaching the final (beating Leslie AirolaMurveit 63 60) and went on to win her first singles gold against Kuhle 63 26 60. Murveit beat Barnes 4,4 to take bronze.
In 70 doubles again the seeding committee did a nice job with the top four seeds reaching the semis. Betsy Savitt/Pat Purcell beat Karwasky/Jan Kirkland 63 60 and Kuhle/Davis beat Murveit/Barnes 3,3. The final though was long, hard fought and a very good watch. Savitt/Purcell edged Kuhle/Davis 67 75 64, overcoming some nerves and stellar play by their opponents. Kuhle competed valiantly all day despite blistered feet but at 70 everyone has niggles of some sort! Murveit/Barnes won the bronze 63 46 30 ret (Kirkland…Achilles pain)
The run of seeds winning singles stopped at the 80s where unseeded Mary Alice Pisani from NorCal ran through the field, taking out #3Brenda Carter (0,1), #2 Betty Wachob (1,2) and in the final #1 Sue Kimball (2,5) to win the gold. Kimball beat #4 Carolann Castell in the semis and Wachob beat Castell 2,3 to take bronze.
In 80 doubles, Andy Polisky/Linda Bucklin edged #4 Farzanegan Kia/Cheryl Smith 75 46 75 (yes, on hard courts they are playing a full two out of three sets in the 80s). Kimball/Wachob, the top seeds beat Carter/Castell 2,2 and Pisani/Brenda Winstead beat Polisky/Bucklin 1,1. The final was a thriller (I was watching other matches and unfortunately missed it) won by Pisani/Winstead 76 (4) 46 76 (1)…I’d call that a pretty evenly matched final and Pisani, as well as the rest of the players are in impressive shape. Carter/Castell took the bronze 64 61.
There was also a lower level (but still strong) men’s tournament going on at the same time, so anyone who wants to play a week at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club should sign up next year…wonderful atmosphere, wonderful club, lots of spectators and perfect weather (other than a bit of rain Tuesday morning). P[