All six USA senior teams were in action today in Finland and all six won their ties. All USA women’s teams won 3/0 to advance to the semis which will be played on Wednesday June 22nd for the 55s and 60s and on Thursday for the 50s (which have more teams).  The men’s 50 and 55s also won their groups today. The 50s play a quarterfinal match on Wednesday but the 55s now have two days off and have advanced to the semis. The 60s have one more match to play tomorrow and if they win will reach the semis.

We played Canada today and beat them 3/0. I played #2 singles against Louise Moulin and won 60 60. Tina lost the first three games of her match against Janice Holloway and dropped only two more the rest of the match, as she adjusted to Janice’s unusual shots. Sherri Bronson and Wendy McColskey played another good doubles match to win 63 62 against Michelle Hall and Christa Cameron.

We play Germany on Wednesday in the semis. They beat Turkey today 3/0.

The match of the day in our cup was that between So Africa and Gr. Britain. Jenny Cerff and Jane Rushby played for about three hours…maybe longer and had a seesaw battle before Jane prevailed 57 75 (and Jane was up 52 before Jenny rallied in that set), 62. in a battle of #1s, Karin Boshoff beat Frances Candy 62 61 to level the tie. However Pauline Fisher/Rushby beat Boshoff/Annelie Celliers 76 61 to advance very late in the day (as our cup has a 2:30 pm start).

We finished at 6pm and after scouting the GBR/RSA match for a short while took the public bus back to the area near the tournament hotel and our apartment which went pretty seamlessly.

The Connolly Cup team won 3/0 against Great Britain but it wasn’t easy. Susan Wright played a big hitter,Judy Horn,  with a huge forehand but managed to get enough of the bullets back to win 64 63. Diane Barker played Sue Bartlett who lives in the USA and in fact the two play  on the same USTA Women’s Intersectional team every year. Sue came out firing and slicing and won the first set 61, was up 2/1 in the second when Diane went into an even higher gear and won the rest of the games to win 16 62 60. Susan relaxed at the end of the match and may have been observed napping once or twice (jetlag).

What I’ve noticed about Finland: everyone seems to speak English pretty well; credit cards are accepted almost everywhere (best to have a chip though); the city is really clean; as elsewhere in Europe, there are no baggers at grocery stores (and bring your own bags or be charged); don’t set your basket on the belt expecting the checkout clerk to unload it; it’s not every very warm in Helsinki (though the weather should be nice for the next week); buses are on time or early; all packaging is in English and Swedish but not much is in any other language; it’s fresh blueberry and strawberry season (but they are quite expensive). I haven’t had a chance to look around much, hopefully we can do some sightseeing tomorrow after we practice.

As always, draws can be found on this page. After the round robins are finished then the teams go into a 1-4 or 1-7 etc knockout draw.