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Two Seeded Players Ousted - Largest Field (250) Starts Play For City Tennis Titles

Two Seeded Players Ousted - Largest Field (250) Starts Play For City Tennis Titles image
Parent Issue
Day
8
Month
July
Year
1973
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Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Two Seeded Players Ousted

Largest Field (250) Starts Play For City Tennis Titles

Tennis everyone?

The question seemed to hang in the air Saturday at the Pioneer High tennis courts as the annual City Adult Tennis Tournament, hosting the largest field of players in Ann Arbor history, got under way.

Tournament Director John D'Addona estimated a total of 250 entrants in the various divisions of singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.

Matches began almost immediately after the 8 a.m. reporting time with action in the men's singles event which consisted of a whopping 75 entrants.

Ideal weather and careful planning by the tournament director enabled the men to play through two complete rounds and into the third before the women's singles entrants took over.

"The ladies matches moved swiftly as planned," said D'Addona. All the first round matches were two-setters, and the four seeds came through unscathed.

The No. 1 seed, defending champion Theodora Shepherd, led the largest field ever with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over young Kathy Chase.

Second-seeded Cissie Collins, a newcomer to Ann Arbor a little less than a year ago, claimed an equally decisive win over Jane Marron. Third-seeded Cindy Morris was a 6-1, 6-1 victor over Alice Kuramoto while Clare Fingerle, the fourth seed, won by default.

The seeding in the men's division did not prove as flawless, however.

Before the day was over the seventh and eighth seeds had been ousted from the tourney.

Seventh-seeded Rob Knauss ran into trouble in his second round match losing a squeaker to Dan Coonley, 7-6, 6-4, while Tom Rehak, the No. 8 seed, lost a tough three-setter to Ron Allen, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3, in the third round.

"Tom and Rob had tough matches," D'Addona said, "and they both came out on the short end."

The other six seeds had no trouble. Top-seeded Jim Holman, also a defending champ, smashed his way to the round of 16, losing only two games in two matches.

Mark Weber, Oliver Owens, and Larry Sperling, numbers 3, 4, and 5, won their matches easily while Dave Owens and Pat Kenney, seeded No. 2 and No. 6, won by default. The tournament carries an aura of youthfulness as six of the eight seeded players in the men's division are 20 years old or younger.

D'Addona perceives a little more excitement coming from some non-seeded players, however. "We have a few sleepers in this tourney," he said, "and they aren't even the ones who scored the upsets."

Action resumed at 9 a.m. today at Pioneer with the completion of the third round of men's singles. Women's quarter-final singles matches begin at 11 a.m.

The men's doubles division, consisting of 44 teams, begins at 1 p.m.

The mixed doubles tournament will begin Monday evening at Pioneer High and Burns Park.

(Saturday's results on Page 30)

Stroking To Victory

John Arthos, a St. Thomas High student, tries his backhand and strokes the ball (arrow) back to Scott Merwin on his way to a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 victory in the City Adult Tennis Tournament. Arthos added a 6-1, 6-0 triumph over Bob Bart to advance to the third round. (Ann Arbor News photo by Cecil Lockard)