The 113th Gold Racquets Court Tennis singles featured the world’s top amateur…Kieran Booth. Would the top American based amateurs step up to the challenge of facing the Australian? On paper, the potential challengers to the Australian were in no particular order…
- Peter Cipriano from the Racquet & Tennis Club
- Bradley Allen, Bill Barker & Danny McBride from Prince’s Court in Washington D.C.
- Jon Crowell from the Philadelphia Racquet Club
- Guy Devereux from the Tuxedo Club
Peter Cipriano after a 6/2 6/3 win in the quarter-finals over Bradley Allen earned his shot at the Australian in the semi-finals in the top half of the draw. Peter played some fantastic tennis, in particularly at the start of the match; but Kieran proved too solid and punished the few loose balls played by Cipriano and earned his spot in the final with a 6/3 6/0 victory.
In the bottom half of the draw, Guy Devereux was almost flawless in a 6/1 6/2 victory of Bill Barker in the first quarter-final. Danny McBride displayed some fantastic retrieval skills in his 6/2 6/2 victory of Jon Crowell in the second quarter-final. The Gold Racquets crowd were all eagerly anticipating the Devereux vs. McBride semi-final; and they were not disappointed. McBride looked on a mission to disappoint the home town fans as he stormed out to what seemed to be an insurmountable 6/1 5/2 lead over Devereux. With the Tuxedo fans never wavering in their support of their man; Devereux clawed his way back and took a remarkable 6/5 victory in the second set….game on! Devereux was not to be denied as the crowd was treated to some fantastic tennis by both players, with Devereux getting across the line and punching hit ticket to the final with a 6/3 third set victory.
Can Devereux; after competing in all four events (Court Tennis singles & Doubles along with Rackets singles) derail Kieran Booth’s march to the Gold Racquet title? Devereux started slowly, as his body may have been revolting to all the exercise…and Booth eased to a 6/2 first set win. Devereux changed tactics a bit in the second set; attacking the ball more and using his rackets background boasting the ball more frequently and finding the targets consistently, all equaling a 6/1 second set win for Devereux. One set all!! Match on! Unfortunately, to the dismay of the very Pro Devereux crowd…Booth started to handle the Devereux forcing and smartly played a strong floor game working Devereux’s legs and methodically ground out two straightforward sets and his first Gold Racquet victory! Congratulations to both finalists on a great match and a wonderful display all weekend of athletic ability and sportsmanship.
In the Cuspidor; which has turned into a wonderful HCP doubles event in the past few years…the tournament committee changed the format for reaching the Finals a bit this year. All participants would be trying to earn as many points as possible in their round robin matches, with the top 12 scores earning their spots regardless of their HCP in the three finals on Monday morning! This made for some very interested parties on Sunday night; doing some math calculations and nail biting as all the round robin matches came to a close.
Congratulations to the 12 Finalists:
- Laura Tillsley (Tuxedo)
- Kim Kilgore (Tuxedo)
- John Beam (Tuxedo)
- Aileen Bruner (Tuxedo)
- Dara Walsh (Prince’s Court)
- Kevin Shea (Tuxedo)
- Arnold Spangler (Tuxedo)
- George Connell (Philadelphia)
- Peter Cipriano (NY R&T)
- Josh Scherer (Tuxedo)
- Dan Laukitis (Tuxedo)
- Doug Ewing (Tuxedo)
8 AM Match – Laura Tillsley & Kim Kilgore defeat John Beam & Aileen Bruner 6/5 6/3
9 AM Match – Dara Walsh & Kevin Shea defeat Arnold Spangler & George Connell 6/5 0/6 6/5
10 AM Match – Dan Laukitis & Doug Ewing defeat Peter Cipriano & Josh Scherer 0/6 6/4 6/4
Thanks to everyone who made the 113th Gold Racquets Tournament a success!
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Devereux & Booth
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