The Margaret Court Cup:  Finalists

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Margaret Court Cup Team
2002 Finish: Winner

2003 Results: USA was seeded #1. There were 11 teams overall. USA was in a 3 team round robin with So Africa and Finland. The first day, USA beat So Africa 2-0, winning both singles with the loss of only 3 games, and being edged in the doubles.

The next day, USA beat Finland, dropping only 3 games in all 3 matches to breeze to a win.

The other round robin groups were won by 2nd-seeded Australia and 4th-seeded Gr. Britain. These 3 teams went into another 3-team round robin group to determine the winner. USA played Gr. Britain on Friday and beat them 2-1, winning the singles matches decisively (Nichols won 2,0 and Fishburne won 0,0 at #1 singles), and narrowly losing the doubles to an inspired British pairing.

The final came down to the match up which had been eagerly anticipated all week, between USA, led by the 2002 45's world champion Diane Fishburne and Australia, led by Ros Baladois, the 2002 40's world champion. The USA, alas, came up a bit short. Vicky Collins beat Carolyn Nichols at #2 singles, coming out in the third set with a 3rd or 4th win and much more aggressive play to win it handily. Baladois and Fishburne played a great match. The first set, every game seemed to go to deuce several times, but Baladois consistently came out on top in those games, using her tremendous reach to turn apparent winners or forcing shots off Fishburne's racquet into approach shots or drop shots with pin point accuracy. Baladois seemed headed for a routine win when leading 62 52, but Fishburne wasn't finished yet. She started playing more aggressively, and commented that Baladois seemed a half step slower than at the onset of the match. Fishburne rallied to 5-4 and faced her first two match points at 5-4, ad in for the server, Baladois. Fishburne won both with aggressive play to level the set, but lost the 5-5 game. Baladois had a third match point at 6-5 ad in, which Fishburne again saved with bold play. Fishburne eventually earned an ad in that game and won it on a net cord winner, one of the few shots Baladois had no play on. Baladois then changed her strategy a bit during the tiebreaker, going to net, at every opportunity, and was successful, dropping only 1 point in the tiebreaker to secure the Cup.

Sherri Bronson, Scottsdale, AZ, Captain
Diane Fishburne, Waterboro, SC
Carolyn Nichols, Lodi, CA
Susan Fisher, Grand Junction, CO

Biography of Players:

Bronson was a member of the winning 2000 and 2002 Court Cup teams and the #1 Court Cup team player in 1999. She has won numerous national  titles over the past 10 years including the 2001 and 2002 Hard Court doubles title and the 2001 Hard Court singles title. She reached the final of the World Championships in 40 singles in 1995 and won the World Championship doubles title in 1997. She is currenlty the #6 ranked singles player and #1 ranked doubles player in the USA.

Fishburne was a member of the winning Young Cup team in 1997-2001. She is the current ITF 45 and over world singles champion. She has won dozens of singles titles over the past decade including the 2003 Indoor 45's singles title. She also won the 40 Indoor singles title 1997-2001. She is ranked #2 in singles and #3 in doubles for 2002 in the USA.

Nichols was a member of the 2001 and 2002 Court Cupt teams and a three time member of the (winning) Young Cup team. She was ranked #4 in 45 singles, and #1 in 40 singles in 2002 and ended the year in the top 10 in the ITF rankings in both divisions.

Fisher is playing on a senior Cup team for the first time. An outstanding junior player (Susan Mehmedbasich), she recently returned to competition and garnered the #5 ranking in women's 45 singles in 2002. She won her first senior national title in May of 2003, winning the 45 indoor doubles title.

Nichols, Bronson, Fisher-Wright and  Fishburne (Susan Fisher married Tim Wright 4 days before leaving for Germany...so she had her honeymoon with her Court Cup team mates.