Please text Sultan if you will be coming to the BBQ on Saturday evening and have not put your name on the list in the clubhouse.
A delicious fish pie dinner, much-heralded by the forty attendees, was cooked by Rachael Gangji. Lara made wonderful pavlovas and cheese cakes to supplement it. Many thanks to Rachael and all the other Gourmet dinner chefs for an excellent Gourmet week!
There were two mens’ singles semi finals played today, plus the mixed doubles final.
On court 1 it was fourth versus first seed – Logan Mair versus Cedric de la Chaise. Logan executed well in his semi-final match to reach the final, but to beat Cedric would be altogether another step up. Although Cedric had not played that well so far in the tournment, with all the matches behind him, he was starting to get his eye in. Logan’s first step would have been to get the majority of first serves in, but Logan struggled with the first serve in this particular match. This gave Cedric the opportunity to get on top with a service return, and, more often than not, to win the point. In fact, Cedric is also capable of hitting return winners into the corners off a first serve too. Although Logan won some fine points, the balance of power was with Cedric, whether Logan was at the net or on the baseline. Cedric won the match 6-2 6-1.
On centre court, it was third versus second seed with Richard Keep hoping to upset Marcio Sugui. Richard is a leftie and it was noticeable after his semi-final match that his left elbow was sore, perhaps from the number of matches which needed to be played during the tournament period. It was bad news for Richard, as he relies on a heavy forehand and serve to compete well. Marcio is also a leftie and has a worldwide singles rating in the 700s in the over 40 group, through playing in a number of open ITF tournaments. More than one admiring lady has commented that he does not necessarily look that old.
Marcio is fit and match tight from tournament play. Richard did his best, but, even fully fit, would not have been favourite to win. Without his two major weapons fully functioning, the result was never seriously in doubt and Marcio won the match 6-3 6-1.
Interesting fact – the average age of the men’s semi-finalists is 46 – Logan 50, Cedric 49, Richard 43, Marcio 42. The youngsters have put up a good showing in the doubles this year – the finalists are the third and fourth seeds. But when will the new guard be ready to take over in the singles?
Mixed doubles final
This was held between Greg Lim and Marjan Denis, top seeds and reigning champions, and Marcio Sugui and Andra Marinescu. Retired professional umpire James McKenzie was officiating. Greg and Marjan are an established partnership and play well together. But Andra and Marcio play a lot of competitive tennis, though not as a pair. Andra played solidly. Both Greg and Marjan found Marcio’s leftie swinging serve into the ad-court service box too difficult to handle. In the first set Marjan was returning in the ad court. Although she often got her racket to Marcio’s serve on the backhand, she found huge difficulty in anticipating the degree of swing and directing her return into court. In the second set, Greg and Marjan swapped courts, presumably to avoid the problem with Marcio’s serve, but Greg fared no better that I could see. In the end, Marcio and Andra were just too strong, and won the match 6-3 6-3.
There is one further match to play before the finals. Emily has agreed to play with Lesley South in the ladies’ doubles, and they face Marjan Denis and Sue Ehr in the semi-final at 6 pm today (Friday).
Although the weather for Finals Day on Saturday is uncertain, the plan is to start both the mens’ and ladies’ singles finals at 2 pm. Come early to get a good seat.
