Dori deVries, Burnett Herrick and Lester Sack and King Van Nostrand Into the Final in Turkey
The 31st ITF Super Senior World Team Championships are coming to a head in Turkey this week. The tournament is being held the 17-23 of October at the Ali Bey Club Manavgat resort near Antalya on slow red clay.
The USA sent several players into the semis as of today in singles and doubles.
Paul Wulf, Portland, OR and Tony Dawson, Carmel, CA both reached the quarters of the men’s 60s where they put scares into high seeds. Wulf fell to the top seed, Camina-Borda 76 in the third in the QF while Dawson lost to the 3rd seed in three sets. The two have teamed up in doubles and face the top seeded Aussies, Andrew Rae and Max Bates, in the semis. The Aussies will be looking to avenge their recent loss to this pair which gave the USA the Von Cramm Cup on Sunday.
Jimmy Parker, Santa Fe, NM, struggled past Canada’s Ken Dahl in the round of 16, a player to whom he’d lost earlier this year. He reached the semis in the Men’s 65where he fell to the top seed, Petr Kolacek of Austria. He and Hugh Thomson, Norcross, GA, are playing the semis later on Friday. Michael Beautyman was up 4-1 when he tore his hamstring. Though he finished out the set, he was unable to continue and retired up 62 02 in the quarters.
King Van Nostrand, Vero Beach, FL is on track to defend his men’s 75 title. There he wil face his countryman and teammate on the Bitsy Grant Cup, Lester Sack, New Orleans, LA. Sack took out the top seed in this division yesterday and Peter Froehlich, Australia, 61 63. Van Nostrand/Froehlich are in the doubles semis, as is Chuck Nelson, who combined with Alan Hocking from Australia, is trying to defend his 2010 world doubles title.
The entire USA men’s Gardnar Mulloy Cup team stayed to play the individual world championships in the men’s 80 division, and Henri Crutchet, France, the 2008 world singles titlist, the second seed, and Lorne Main, defending champion from Canada have beaten them all. Crutchet had the far tougher task, taking out George McCabe, (Oxford, OH) the #2 American in three sets in the quarters and today beating Russell Seymour, (Tyler, TX) the top American and 3rd seed 75 in the third. Seymour beat Crutchet in the team championships last week. Main has yet to drop a set in reaching the final. However, McCabe/Seymour are in the doubles semis later today.
Brenda Carter was the sole American representative in the women’s 65s (and there were none in the 60s), and reached the quarters, where her doubles partner, Heide Orth, dismantled her 60 61. Carter had beaten her the week previously in the team championships, so Orth was in no kind of a forgiving mood! The two are the second seeds in the doubles and are in the semis later today.
Charleen Hillebrand, San Pedro, CA and Suella Steel, La Jolla, CA are into the semis in the women’s 70 doubles. Hillebrand just reached the singles final, beating the second seed, Mary Marty, France today. Steel fell 64 64 to top seeded Sophia Garaguly from Austria in a battle of counterpunchers.
The 75s will be an all American final between the 2010 world champion, Burnett Herrick, Tarboro, NC and newcomer (to the 75s), Dori DeVries, Reno, NV. They will also face off in the doubles, deVries playing with Carol Wood, Rockville, MD and Herrick with Gertrud Zubeil of Germany.
Jane Lutz, Sarasota, FL, the USA Gold Slam singles champion in 2011, fell to Rosie Asch, Canada in the semis of the 80 singles today, but with Louise Russ, Boca Raton, is in the doubles semis.
The tournament is on track to finish in most divisions Saturday. For all results, click here.