USA W65s Beat Australia for Gold; W60/70 Finish Second; M65 Finish 4th; M60/70 Finish 5th

Today started late due to rain but some matches started as early at 10:30 while others such as ours started around 11am. There were a few warm up courts so I was able to warm up around the same time the #2 singles matches began. Rain was predicted for the entire day but once it cleared up the rest of the day was pleasant, sunny, upper 60s.

Today was a great day for our W65 team which beat Australia 2/1 to avenge their 2025 loss to the same team. Fran Chandler beat Wanda Howes at #2 in straight sets; Ros Balodis (AUS) beat Vicki Buholz at #1 singles and Buholz/Anne Frautschi won the doubles point 10-8 in a match tiebreaker. I was playing so didn’t see any of it but the men’s players said it was an AMAZING match.

The women’s 60s fell to a very tough German team (which had an extremely vociferous rooting section) 2/1 (Germany refused to play the doubles). Jenny Rens lost at #2 (and pulled her calf near the end); Jenny Klitch played a great match but lost in three sets to Petra from Germany who really hits very powerfully.

The Women’s 70s lost 2/1 (Tina Karwasky/Andrea Barnes won the doubles point 62 63 under the very poor lights.). Betsy Kuhle lost to Caroline Glazmann a solid lefty who played a good match. I lost a 3.5 hour match 76 06 76 to Benedict Le Grand who played extremely well. I could have been braver but I fought hard and came back from 41 down in the third…it was just a few points here and there and a bit of rust from me. Hey…even Carlos didn’t win his first tournament back at the US Open! I have another chance next week at the individuals though.

The Men’s 65s lost to Austria and finished 4th; Jon Tyrell and John Vallestro lost #2 and #1 singles respectively; Hessler/Tyrell took the doubles point and their #1 Bill Moss did not play today.