Brief report of the first day at the USTA National Clay Court Championship in Fort Lauderdale
Ok, Day 1 is done and I'm still alive. It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win. I'm, like, Brad Gilbert's protege.
Nothng major to report` the first day. For those back in Fort Myers, Oliver and I are hanging tough, but we both have tough matches in the A.M. Oliver has the No.2 seed, Egan Adams, and I'm going to go out on a limb right now and say that if Oliver wins that match, he's going all the way to the final. You heard it here first!
As for me, If I win my match against the unseeded but fifth-ranked player in Florida,Steve Winsor, my only prediction is that I'm going to show up to play the next day. No, I'm not going to predict a victory over sixth-seeded Pablo Arraya. I don't want to tick the guy off and give him incentive to put a hurtin' on me. Noooo, I would like him to be feeling quite congenial if/when we face off. Of course, he still has to get past his first match, and he's playing no slouch in Charles Johnson.
I missed the coctail party, but I didn't miss the shot of the day, a screaming forehand winner off the racquet of Tom Annear of Miami, while he was doing a double somersault in the clay. He was helped up by the ever helpful Tournament Referee, Melissa Jackson, then went on to defeat Michael Erbe 7-5, 6-4.
That's about it for day one. The seeds are in action tomorrow, and there are some terrific matchups on tap. I'll keep ya posted. From Lauderdale:game, set, match...
