There were lots of upsets at Merion on Thursday.

 

In the 35’s, Cass and Yorke, the top 2 seeds, both made it to the final, but in very different fashion. Yorke struggled past Michelle King, edging her 64 in the third, while Cass cruised past Julie Kaczmarek in the bottom half of the draw. In doubles, Cass/King will take on Mary Dailey/Kaczmarek in the final. Dailey, who won the 35 world championship in April, also had shoulder surgery in April. Dailey/Kaczmarek upset the defending champions, Mariana Hollman/Yorke in the semis.

 

In the 45’s, Susan Wright, still improving each year, upset Tina Karwasky in 3 tight sets. It was a rare 3 set loss for Karwasky. Wright faces defending champion Yukie Koizumi who dismissed Gerda Preissing with the loss of only 2 games in the other semi.

 

The seedings held true in the 45 doubles, with Tracey Thompson/Robin Ogburn ousting Karwasky/Mary Ginnard in 3 sets and Preissing/Wright beating Mary Johnson/Frances O’Sullivan in straight sets.

 

In the 55’s, Mary Wilson continued her stellar grass court run with a straight set win over Barb Muller. She will take on Anne Guerrant who ended the run of Ching Ling Chang in the semis. Guerrant has dropped only 8 games over 4 matches thus far in this event.

 

The 55 doubles went according to form, with the top seeds beating the 3 & 4 seeds to reach the final. Hahn/Orth will face Williams-Horne/Muller in the doubles final.

 

The weather in Philly has been extremely hot, 90’s and humid.