Wednesday was another beautiful day in La Baule and Pornichet. I warmed up early with Fran Chandler (she won her 50 singles, as did Gretchen Rush); then biked over to the Sporting Club where Lynn Mortimer, my Aussie doubles partner, and I warmed up. Tina, Sherri, Wendy and Wendy’s sister Dale were also there warming up for their tough round of 16 matches; all but Tina played seeded players.
I played Sharon Van Der Schyff from So Africa (RSA), a lovely lady who does a lot for seniors tennis in RSA including managing their facebook group. We got to our court…here we are assigned specific courts and are to go to the court and the umpires bring the balls, water and do a coin toss. They are also doing live scoring of the matches. No one had swept or lined the court, so we did that!I won 60 60, and went to watch my potential next round opponents, 7th seeded Dagmar Sperneder from Austria and Caroline Glaszmann from France. Glasczmann won 61 62. She’s a tough lefty who played #1 for the French team which finished first in the Alice Marble Cup so will be a big test tomorrow. Sherri Bronson was playing a German woman, Susanna Schweda and when Dale and I arrived at the court (Wendy was playing Nora Blom, the top seed and had just split sets), Schweda and Sherri were on the same side of the court discussing a call, looking for a mark while the roving umpire looked on too. In the end Sherri said she had to play the point over, lost it, and went down 3/0 in the second set having lost the first. She ended up losing 64 60, though it was closer than that for sure, very long games and points.
Tina by this time had beaten Benedict Le Grande, the #2 French player last week (who went undefeated in Cup play in singles) after a slow start and Wendy and Nora had just started the third set. Wendy went up 2/0 and Nora fought back to 3/2; then Wendy won two quick games to put her up 4/3 and Nora seemed to tire. However, Nora at that point dug in her heels and quickened her already quick feet to win the set and the match 64.
USA’s Danny Waldman then took on the #4 seed from France, Bruno Renoult and won 62 62. He has a tough Aussie next though, #5 Wayne Cowley, the #5 seed.
Around noon Lynn and I played doubles against May (from the Aussie Marble Cup team) and Rosemary Davis. May plays unorthodox tennis, she has good hands and lobs well. We had some long games but lost only one, winning 61 60.
Just as we finished, Nora and Tina were taking on Wendy and Sherri. Nora and Tina started sharply, getting on top of the net and won the first set 60, and led 50 with some match points when Sherri and Wendy changed tactics and Nora and Tina lost a bit of focus then got a bit tight. Sherri and Wendy won six straight games before Tina held serve easily to force a tiebreak. Sherri and Wendy went up 42, but Tina and Nora got a bit more aggressive and won the final five points and the match. Match tiebreaks are played in all doubles and mixed in lieu of third sets, so winning in straight sets is pretty important.
Margeret Beyer from Germany beat Carmen Perera 64 in the third, rallying from 3-4, 15-40 in the third set, then combined with Jutta Boekmann to beat the #2 seeds in 60 doubles 61 60! They play a So African/American (Celliers/Hughes) team in the semis.
Over at the 55s, Susan Wright and Chris French (GBR) beat Sue Bartlett/Libby Eden 62 61 to reach the semis; they play top seeded Ros Balodis/Leanne Swaysland next. The top seeds beat Kathy Vick/Erin Boynton, but Vick beat Dorothea Foks to reach the quarters. Susan won her singles over Eden and plays French next.
In men’s 55s, Mike Fedderly and Mike Tammen won their singles and doubles; Val Wilder won in three sets today in singles too.
In men’s 50s, Polo Cowan and Daniel Grossman are the top doubles seeds and are into the quarters.
Ann Pellow was playing mixed as were Diane and Jack Barker today.
Times aren’t out yet for tomorrow. Here’s the link to the draws. http://itfseniors.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=7A0DA883-F179-4854-AA21-505B2B399B69
Here’s the Live Scoring link to follow matches in progress.
Update: times are out…2nd on Court 8 after Tina, who plays at 10. Doubles to follow on the same court after a break.