The USA Dubler Cup team (men’s 45) was the only team in medal contention which advanced today. Let’s just say this clay is REALLY slow! However, Mario Tabares (Miami), who started off the day for the Dubler Cup team played well in defeating his Dutch opponent 64 62. Jeff Tarango then took the court for #1 singles and had a real battle, winning 64 06 62 (those new balls really help the US players!). The doubles was unplayed. The USA plays #3 seeded Italy tomorrow. There is a high probability of rain tomorrow in this region, but the courts here dry unbelievably quickly, so hopefully that won’t impact play too much.
The Lenglen Cup team played top seeded France. Patricia Zerdan went down quickly at #2 singles and commented that her opponent was just too good for her! Sophie Woorons-Johnston then had to win at #1 singles to keep the USA in the tie. She almost pulled it off, winning the first set and serving for the second set. Her opponent upped the level of her game at that point, and started hitting huge forehands and rallied to win the match and clinch the tie for France. The French team won the doubles too over Carolina Blouin/Mary Dailey (Delray Beach). The Lenglen Cup team has tomorrow off and will play on Saturday for the bronze.
The Fred Perry Cup team lost to a very tough Italian team 2/1. Bill Moss lost at #2 singles; Mike Tammen played well to level the tie at 1/1. Tammen/Ken White lost a close two-setter to the Italians and now will play for 5-8 starting tomorrow.
The Italia Cup team lost 3/0 to Sweden. Mark Tepes played #2 singles; Ross Duncan played #1 and Justin Touchstone (Weston)/Gabriel Venter played the doubles. Their comment on the doubles was that Sweden was just too good today.
The Young Cup team lost a tough one to Switzerland 2/1. Deb Higa made her Cup singles debut and lost in straight sets. Trish Riddell (Lakeland), at #1 singles, rallied from a set down to win. Vesna McKenna (Hollywood)/Riddell played the doubles point and got off to a quick 3/0 lead…only to lose the next 9 games. They lost the doubles 63 75 and now play Argentina for 7th place.
Tonight was the gala dinner, which this year was split between the beach and main restaurants because it was too cold to eat poolside. There was an amazing amount of food, and desserts! (Great Baklava here, good thing there’s so much walking going on.)
For all results on all cups, click here: https://seniortennisblog.com/2013/03/17/2013-seniors-cup-draws/