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The Clay Court Nationals began on March 4th 2003. Actually, the tournament was supposed to begin on the 3rd, but it rained all day Monday, and no matches were started or completed. On Wednesday, rain began just after noon, but the weather stayed dry after that.
Renata Marcinkowska won the 35 singles, with a dominating performance, beating Jamie Patterson 61 61 in the final...awesome topspin and drop shots and slices. Hy Yorke beat Anna Hayden to take the bronze. Patterson went home though with a gold ball, taking the doubles title with Hy Yorke over last year's winners, Kitchen/Palmer. Gaskill/Hayden took the bronze. In the 45's, Carolyn Nichols beat Karen Hausman to take the singles gold and Rosie Garza/Sue Whiting beat Nichols/Ramsower-Pearlstein to take the doubles gold.Kathy Foulk won the bronze in the 45 singles. It was her first USTA ball. Fendig/Strnadel won the bronze in doubles with a 60 64 win over Graham/Hyink. In the 55's, Anne Guerrant played flawlessly to beat Heide Orth in straight sets. Orth turned the tables on Guerrant in the doubles semis, teaming with Betty Wachob to beat Guerrant/Mary Wilson in the semis and Kathy Bennett/Judy Louie beat Hillebrand/Steel in the other semi. Bennett/Louie rallied from a set down in the final to beat Orth/Wachob. Hillebrand/Steel took the bronze by default over Guerrant/Wilson. In the 65's, Matthiessen upheld her top seed and beat Dori deVries 63 63 in the final. Inge Weber took the bronze over Norma Veal. Little/Matthiessen and Koontz/Veal reached the doubles final. Koontz/Veal upset deVries/Gunderson in the semis. Olga Mahaney won the 75's with a straight-set win over Betty Eisenstein. Elaine Mason took the bronze. Dickey/Mason won the doubles over Peterson/Stout (there's someone who is not aptly named) and Mahaney/Shephard took the bronze.
In the 35's, the top 2 seeds, Marcinkowska and Patterson are set for a showdown, having beaten Hy Yorke and Anna Hayden respectively. The top 2 seeds are also in the doubles final, Kitchen/Palmer and Patterson/Yorke. In the 45's, Hausman and Nichols are set for a repeat of the Checket Cup final, which was a long match and very close. In the doubles, the top 2 seeds are also in the final, Nichols/Ramsower-Pearlstein and Garza/Whiting. In the 55's, top-seeded Charleen Hillebrand was outplayed by Anne Guerrant, and 6th-seeded Heide Orth ousted Mary Wilson. The top 4 seeds reached the doubles semis. In the 65's, Matthiessen stopped the upset-minded Norma Veal and deVries edged Inge Webber in the other semi. The top 4 seeds reached the semis, though Koontz-Veal had to hold off a match point before subduing Boswell/King 75 in the third. In the 75's, Elaine Mason was upset by Olga Mahaney in 3 sets. Betty Eisenstein reached the final also. Dickey/Mason edged Mahaney Shephard in the doubles semis and face unseeded Peterson/Stout in the final. Dodo won the 85 singles with a win over Sheila Evans.
In the 45's, the 3rd and 4th seeds fell. 6th-seeded Kathy Foulk rallied from a set down and 0-3 in the third set as well to beat Lu Fendig, the 3rd seed, 75 in the third set. Sue Bramlette, a pro at the HRC, gave a clay court lesson to the 4th seed, Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein, beating her 61 75. And in doubles, MC Hyink/Sally Graham, rallied after losing the first set 60 to beat the 4th seeds, Bramlette/Daryl Lerner to win the final sets 76 75. They held off at least 3 match points in the process, one in the 2nd set at 45 and 2 (possibly 3) at 45 in the third set. Hyink showed off great hands and Graham great lobs. In the 55's, 6th-seeded Heide Orth beat 2nd-seeded Brenda Carter for the first time, 36 63 75 in a great match. And Charleen Hillebrand rallied from 3-5, 15-40 to beat Pat Kelleman 76 61. Kelleman commented that at set point she was thinking 1: Hillebrand was down set point yesterday (against Jan Dennis, Kelleman's doubles partner) and won the set and 2: Was thinking don't miss, ie play conservatively, instead of being aggressive. In the 65's, there were no upsets, but Norma Veal, unseeded, continued her great play in the 65's, reaching the semis with a 3-set win over Ramirez de Ochoa, and deVries had to go 3 sets to subdue Kathy Langer. In the 75's, Peterson/Stout ousted the 2nd seeds, Hussey/Knode in straight sets and Mahaney/Shephard beat the 4th seeds, Price Reed also in straight sets. The match to watch tomorrow is Mahaney/Mason in the semis of the 75's.
Upsets on Wednesday: Katie Koontz, the 9th seed ousted Mary Boswell, the 4th seed, and Norma Veal, another first year 65 player, ousted Carol Wood. Both wins were in straight sets.
In the 75's, third-seeded Dottie Knode was beaten by Nancy Hambleton in straight sets.
There were several upsets on the first day of play. In the 55's, Pat Keleman, who has already beaten (and lost to) Brenda Carter, the 2nd seed this year, upset 8th-seeded Betty Wachob in straight sets. Judy Wirsing ousted 5th-seeded Judy Louie also in the round of 32. Top-seeded Charleen Hillebrand had to hold off a set point in the 2nd set before beating Jan Dennis 60 75.
In the 65's, Yola Ramirez de Ochoa from Mexico, upset Roz King 62 75 in the round of 32. Nancy Reed rallied from a first set loss to beat Nancy MacKenzie; all other seeds prevailed in straight sets.
In the 75's, there were 2 upsets. Piyachart Hussey upset 5th-seeded Nancy Stout 62 75 and Rita Price, the 7th seed, was beaten by Martha Norman, 63 64.
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