California, USA,

Reported by Benda Carter, Captain of the USA team.

As expected, the USA Women’s 70 team had a tough battle against Germany today.  There are 13 countries vying for our Cup and there are 4 seeds.  USA is seeded #2 and Germany is unseeded. The teams are divided into 4 groups, with 3 teams in 3 groups and 4 teams in the 4th group.  A seed is placed in each of the 4 groups.  In each of the groups, a round robin is played and the winner of each round robin will play a semifinals and finals draw with a 3/4 playoff at the end of the week.  The other 3 seeds were happy Germany was not in their round robin, because they knew how tough they would be.

Judy Dixon won her match at #2 in straight hard-fought sets, then Toni Novack lost her match to a player ranked #3 in the world in the 70s, but she gave her a run for her money.  After an hour break, the doubles teams went to battle.  Judy and Liane played a brilliant match and after 2 1/2 hours, won 6-4 in the third.  Hence, we won the tie! 

We are ecstatic that we have progressed to the semi’s.  We have the day off tomorrow!

There are over 500 players competing this week, with teams from 30 different countries.  The age groups for Women and Men are 65s, 70s, 75s, 80s, and 85s.  The USA has a team competing in each category.

Thanks for your support!

Brenda