USA Win Five of Six Matches on Day 1 of Young Seniors World Team Championships

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

The ITF Young Seniors (ages 35, 40 and 45 and over) World Team Championships began today in Miami Beach at the Flamingo Tennis Center and North Miami Beach at the Tennis Center there.

The opening ceremonies were held yesterday in North Miami Beach. In addition to the parade of nations, the opening featured a person jumping out of a plane and entertainers from South Beach singing and dancing.

It’s very very hot here, high 80s or better and very humid.

Today, Monday, all USA teams were in action. I watched the women’s 45 team of Sophie Woorons, Jenny Klitch, Nancy Hilliard and Tracie Currie. They played Paraguay, who seemed to have stacked their lineup…the #2 player had recently beaten the #1 player in an ITF tournament 63 60. So Jenny had a good match against a feisty player who served well and moved well, but was streaky. Jenny won 64 63. Sophie made short work of her opponent at #1 and showed off some flashy (and effective) jumping forehands and backhands. Nancy and Tracie won the doubles point.

In other action, the men’s 35s won 2/1 against Finland; Matt Hane at #2 and Jonathas Sucupira both won in straight sets to clinch the tie though Brandon Blankenbaker and rookie Quinn Borchard fell in three sets in the doubles.

The women’s 35s & 40s both won 3/0 against Ireland and Mexico respectively. The 35s had Kaysie Smashey at #2 singles, Heather Nobler at #1 and Julie Thu/Eugenia Dockter won the doubles point. On the 40s team, Lizl Kotz at #2 and Amanda Parson at #1 won the singles points while Millie Yablonicky and Yulia Bolotova won the doubles point.

The men’s 40s beat Turkey 3/0. Paulo Barros played #2 while Michael Halperin played #1 singles; Ross Duncan/Chris Groer took the doubles point.

The men’s 45s were the only USA team to be unseeded. They played a seeded team, Australia first round and unfortunately lost both singles matches; rookie Raj Vaswani fell at #2 and Michael Chang (no, not that Michael Chang) lost at #1 singles before Neil Grover and Art Hernandez won the doubles point.