The Men’s 55, Austria Cup team won GOLD in Portugal, defeating Germany 2/1 (USA defaulted the doubles point); Dana Gill won 63 63 at #2 singles and Eoin Collins won 62 61 at #1 singles to clinch the win. Peter Smith and Kurt Kopp completed the gold medal winning team. Kopp/Smith won the deciding doubles point against France in the quarterfinals, which was the only tie in which USA lost an individual match.
The Women’s 50s, Maria Bueno Cup, lost back to back match tiebreaks in the deciding doubles matches to finish fourth. Julie Thu did not drop a set in singles all week, and every tie (other than the one against Turkey) went down to the doubles this week. Thu played singles and doubles in four of the five matches. On Friday Switzerland won 2/1. Spain beat France to win the Cup. Heather Waters, Pernilla Putnik and Carolina Blouin completed the USA team.
The Women’s 55s, Maureen Connolly Cup, lost 2/1 to Spain on Friday to finish sixth. Four of their five matches also went down to the doubles, and on Friday they lost 10-8 in the match tiebreak of the deciding doubles. Kathy Settles dropped only one singles match all week and did double duty in singles and doubles in four of the five matches. Jen Beindorf, Lindsey Montero and Gayle Prejean completed the team. Germany beat Netherlands decisively in the singles to win the Cup.
The Men’s 50s (Fred Perry Cup) lost to Italy on Friday for the second time this week, 2/1 (Italy defaulted the doubles). Willie Dann, Stephen Herdoiza, Tim Burke and Neel Grover were the team members. France beat Netherlands to win the Cup.
