USA Advances to Final Rounds in the Lenglen, Bueno, Connolly, Dubler, Perry and Austria Cups; USA upset in Young, Court, and Trabert Cups;

Overall it was a tough day at the office for the USA teams in Turkey. The Bueno, Connolly, Austria and Lenglen Cup teams advanced 3/0 but the Perry and Dubler Cup teams had to clinch their ties in the doubles. The Trabert Cup team lost 2/1 to Great Britain, finishing in a three way tie with Romania and GB at 2/1 and after applying the tiebreak, ended up third in their group. The Young Cup lost 3/0 to Canada and the Court Cup fell 2/1 to South Africa. The Italia Cup beat So Africa to finish second in its round robin group.

The Lenglen Cup team (W35) shellacked Estonia…they lost only one game in three matches! Carolina Blouin and Sophie Woorons-Johnston both won 60 60 and Mary Dailey/Woorons-Johnston won the doubles point. Captain Patricia Zerdan said the hardest part about the tie was watching, as it made her very nervous! I hope she survives a tie where the team loses say 2 or 3 games. They now play France tomorrow at the main site at 9am…I’ll be there.

The Bueno Cup team beat Sweden decisively behind singles wins by Tracy Houk and Ros Nideffer and a doubles win by Fran Chandler/Vicki Buholz. They have tomorrow off and play the winner of the Czech Republic and Great Britain on Friday.

The Connolly Cup advanced easily over Germany, winning 3/0. Susan Wright won at #2, Diane Barker took the #1 point and Tina Karwasky/Pat Purcell won the doubles point. They play #3 seed Australia on Friday.

The Dubler Cup team lost the first match of the day against Latvia. Kelly Ward fell 75 64 at #2 singles. Eoin Collins won the #1 singles point 63 60 and Mario Tabares/Jeff Tarango won the doubles point 61 60. They play Netherlands tomorrow in the quarterfinals of the final round of competition where matches get tougher.

In the Perry Cup, Thomas Schlack started the team off with a win against the Czech Republic at #2 singles (61 61); however Ken White fell 64 61 at #1 singles. He more than made up for it in the doubles, teaming with Mike Tammen to take the doubles point 62 62 and advance to the final rounds. The Perry Cup now plays Italy in the quarterfinals.

The Austria Cup team beat New Zealand 3/0 but both singles went three sets before Sal Castillo at #2 and Mark Vines at #1 could finish off their opponents. Wes Cash/Peter Markes easily won the doubles point. They play the winner of Germany and France on Friday.

The Young Cup team played a tough Canadian team and fell 3/0 in an upset, since the USA Young Cup team was seeded third. They will now play off for 5-8. Vesna McKenna fought hard at #2 singles but lost in three sets; Trish Riddell had a tough loss at #1 singles and Debbie Higa/Stephanie Stone fell in the doubles. They play Switzerland tomorrow midday.

The Court Cup had some bad luck today against South Africa to whom they lost 2/1. Shelly Works won 62 62 in about two hours; Anna Zimmermann lost in three sets at #1 singles. Alissa Finerman/Erika Smith lost in three sets in the deciding doubles and Erika hurt her foot in the 2^nd set but they managed to win it 62; however she hurt it further (she heard a pop) and couldn’t move. Alissa was all over the court, she’s amazingly quick, and Erika hung in there but had to leave the court on crutches. I had to find the physio who sent me to the doctors (hanging out by the bar..hmmm) who then led me to the doctor’s office at Ali Bey where they had used crutches for a 10 euro fee (new ones were 25 Euros)…we took them to Erika and a cart was ordered to transport Erika back to her room. Vesna, who is a paramedic was called to the court (she was watching the Young Cup doubles) and looked at Erika’s foot, which was swollen and looking black and blue on the ball of her foot. It was a really sad ending to the match, as Erika was planning on playing the individuals with Dailey next week and this was her first ever Cup team. The Court Cup plays Spain in the 5-8 playoff tomorrow.

The Tony Trabert Cup team lost to Great Britain 2/1 today, dropping both singles points (Willie Quest at #2 and Carsten Hoffmann at #1; Daniel Marting/Neel Grover won the doubles point)and ended up in a 2/1 tie with Romania and GB. After the tiebreakers were applied they came in third in their group and have to pay for 11-15 on Friday vs the Czech Republic, the #6 seeds.

The Italia Cup beat South Africa today 3/0 to finish second in their group. Mark Tepes won in three sets at #2 singles; Ross Duncan won at #1 singles in straight sets and Gabriel Venter/Justin Touchstone won the doubles points in three sets. They play Sweden tomorrow in the 7-12 place playoffs.

So for tomorrow: Lenglen play for a spot in the final; Young and Court Cups play for a spot in the 5/6 playoff; Italia Cup plays in the 7-12 place playoffs; Perry and Austria play quarterfinals

Friday: Connolly, Austria, Bueno Cups contest the semifinals and the Trabert Cup play for 11-15.

Click here to see draws.