Floridians Perform at USTA National Grass Courts

Eight of Eleven Florida Tennis Players Prevail in Men's 45s & 50s.

Aug 24, 2008

Florida may be best known for its clay court players, but Floridians show that they are no slouches on Philly's grass courts at the USTA Nationals.

Seventeen (17) USTA Florida tennis players travelled to the “City of Brotherly Love” to play the USTA National Grass Court Championships in the 45 and 50 Men’s Singles divisions. Of those seventeen, 11 played first round matches. As the setting sun cast slivers of light through the leaves of the giant Oaks sheltering the Germantown Cricket Club, a majority of the Floridians who contended for a spot in tomorrow’s second round were satisfied with their efforts.

Men’s 45 Singles

In the toughest win for the Florida contingent, Michael Erbe of Seminole pulled out a tough 6-3; 4-6; 6-3 victory over Robert Shaffer of Silver Spring, MD. For his efforts, Erbe will face Gary Clermont (13) of Fort Lauderdale. Erbe’s best hope is that Clermont will not be up to snuff on the grass, given that he received a bye in the first round.

T. A. Niles of Fort Myers, advanced after Bill Kirsch of Elm Grove, Wisconsin suffered an injury with Niles leading 6-2 in the first set tiebreak. Niles will face William Donadio of Winter Park on Monday. The match will be Donadio’s first, as he received a first round bye, as did Selim Benbadis of Tampa, and Dean Ziff of Miami. Benbadis will meet Morteza Delroba of Bethesda, Maryland, and Ziff will battle Paul Sommers of Rockville, Maryland in tomorrow’s second round.

David Blackstone of North Miami Beach was the only Floridian to fall on the first day in the 45s. He went down in straight sets (7-5; 6-3) to Jordy Asher of Endicott, NY.

Men’s 50 Singles

Florida’s best hope for a champion in either draw rests with Kevin Manning of Clearwater, who is the top seeded Floridian in either draw. The fifth-seeded Manning will face Lynn Stewart of Springdale, Arkansas in his first match, after receiving a first round bye. A perennial challenger at national events, Manning should be in the mix deep into the later rounds.

Another likely latter-round contender, Van Gladfelter (10) of Tampa, will get his first action tomorrow against Christopher Blair of Richmond, Virginia. Blair easily dispatched David Van Dyke of Maitland, Florida (6-3, 6-1), but should have more of a test against the tenth seed.

Two other strong Florida representatives performed well in their openers. Kerry Clapper of Clermont sailed through a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Michael Bozzo of Newport, Michigan, and David Vaughan of Fort Myers won easily (6-2, 6-0) over Reginald Day of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Although Bozzo was no clown and played in earnest, Clapper brought too much game to the grass for Bozzo to leave with a smile on his face. Clapper should advance through his match tomorrow with George Webb of Reston, Virginia. Vaughan has a tough match-up with Mats Ljungman (11) of Ann Arbor, Michigan tomorrow, but with Vaughan’s big serve and solid volley game, an upset is very possible.

Jeffrey Winkler of St Petersburg moved past D'Wayne Begay of Albuquerque, New Mexico in straight sets (6-3, 6-3). He will face Keith M. Banister of Roswell, Georgia in the second round. Michael Echevarria of Tampa beat Martin Devlin of West Trenton, New Jersey 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 to move into a second round match-up with Philip Dubsky of Geneva, Ohio.

Weller B. Evans of Ponte Vedra cruised past Paul Feldman of Short Hills, New Jersey (6-1, 6-0), and could give Paul S. Moss (12) of New York, New York something to think about tomorrow. Joe Bouquin of Delray Beach had too much game and experience for Steven Savran of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, winning 7-5, 6-2. Bouquin will need all of his experience to get by Matthew Barker (14) of Albuquerque, New Mexico in his next match.

Gary Downing of Tampa put up a serious fight against Robert Levine of Grand Rapids, Michigan, but it wasn’t enough to prevail. He lost a tough 6-4, 7-6 (4) battle.

After the first day of action, Florida’s representatives at the USTA National Grass Court Championships are 8-3. Given that most of the players comprising the Florida contingent spend the majority their time on clay courts, the polar opposite of grass, the first day’s performance is a credit to Florida tennis.

The copyright of the article Floridians Perform at USTA National Grass Courts in Tennis/Racquet Sport is owned by T. A. Niles. Permission to republish Floridians Perform at USTA National Grass Courts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.