There were 6 matches played today, and one was deferred. The draw seems to be progressing nicely, though there are still 4 matches to play past the R32 date in the men’s singles and one in the mixed. Either you know who you are(!), or I don’t know that you have played and don’t have the result.
Kerry Karageorgis has a new infant, and fatherhood still includes interrupted sleep. Nevertheless, he agreed to play his singles against Matias Piazza at 8 am on Tuesday morning, perhaps regretting it after a rough night with a crying baby.
Matias has a good all round game. Kerry is more hit and miss but can hit some decent winners. Kerry commented that he (Kerry) “didn’t show up”, but it doesn’t seem to be that clear cut. Matias held serve throughout the match, and broke Kerry only once in the first set but twice in the second set for a 6-3 6-1 victory. The match was closer than the score suggests.
Also in the men’s singles, Dan Dalton played Jasper Tresider. Jasper said he was feeling rather ill and tired from the men’s 2nd team match the previous night and struggling with the humidity. But beware a wounded animal! Dan had a solid first serve, but occasional double faults lost him a few games. Perhaps surprisingly, considering his comments, Jasper served well and did not miss many returns. 4 or 5 games went to deuce, but Jasper won 6-1 6-0.
Paul O’Flynn took on Philip Reid in the men’s singles. In a slightly different scenario to Jasper, Paul is a surgeon of international repute, had been operating on an Egyptian military patient over the weekend, and had to take a 3 am Sunday night flight back from Cairo to get back to play his tournament match.
The match was close up until 2 all. Then there was a long game on Paul’s serve in which Philip broke. At that point Paul started to run out of energy, and couldn’t mount an effective defence against Philip’s booming serves and wide wingspan to retrieve balls on the other strokes. Philip seems to be well over 6′ 4″. Philip won 6-2 6-1.
Kris Engley played Marcio Sugui, the top seed in the men’s singles. Kris didn’t get any games in the first set, but managed to clock up two games in the second set which resulted in 6-0 6-2 win for Marcio.
Jeff Fine & Penny Isaacs played Brian Coffey & Jenny Warren in the mixed. This would have been an interesting one to predict. Jeff is a wily competitor and has been second team captain in his time but seems to think he suffers from the common tennis malady of “anno domini”. Penny is Ms consistent, who will retrieve most wide balls and return groundstrokes or lobs all day long, and has also been developing a net game. Brian has some good powerful strokes, but also has two artificial hips and two replacement knees and quite a bit of anno domini too. Jenny plays consistently and knows where to hit the ball.
I don’t have a match report, but the first set went 6-3 to Brian & Jenny. Brian & Jenny took the second set too, perhaps surprisingly, 6-0, for a 6-3 6-0 victory.
Paul Rubie & Sabine Casparie played Greg Lim & Marjan Denis, the third seeds, in the mixed. Greg and Marjan are a long standing mixed doubles partnership playing competitive inter-club tennis at a high level. Sabine and Paul are a decent players, but not with the same track record of inter-club competitive matches. Greg and Marjan won the match 6-0 6-1.
