MID HUDSON TENNIS NEWS: ULSTER COUNTY TOURNAMENT UPDATE

Scroll down for results of completed matches

And our message to all tennis players :

RESULTS RESULTS RESULTS RESULTS RESULTS

Sunday 7/22/12

Schaeffer wins Senior Men's Singles
McAuliffe/Witty bag Senior Mixed title
Ostrovetsky's modern game sets easy win
Andrew Constant wins Men's title

Scott Taylor

Wayne Schaeffer 2012 Senior Men's SIngles Champion

Wayne Schaeffer won his umpteenth senior singles title defeating Scott Taylor 6-3,6-3 in the first of several finals at Forsyth Park. In contrast to hard hitting matches, this was an error ridden match with both players committing many especially at the net. Wayne kept the ball deep and got a lot of looks at short balls which he cautiously guided to the open court. Neither player tried to dictate play and were hoping for errors from their opponent or for their volleys to stick. The match was decided in the classical way with the person making less unforced errors triumphing.

Wayne Schaeffer's post match interview

In the Senior Mixed Doubles, Sue McAuliffe and Bob Witty played aggressive tennis to down Karla Wainright and Tom Turco 6-2,6-1. McAuliffe won a lot of points with her swinging volleys and both players cleverly hit the ball down the middle and kept the opponents guessing where they would hit. As a result Turco,the strongest of the four players, was frequently out of step and prone to errors.

McAuliffe/Witty Post match interview

There has always been debate about how previous champions would fare against modern players. Could Stan Smith in his prime beat Rafael Nadal ? Could Venus Williams get the better of Margaret Court ? The Women's Open Singles gave a snapshot of the possible answer : it is not the spirit of the players or their talent that determines the winner. Rather it is the changing nature of the style of play and equipment that makes the modern game different.
Dawn Kitner was a dominant player in Ulster County a few years ago and is still a player to contend with ( just ask Karen Gill). However her style of play in the context of the modern game may be quite vulnerable. This was apparent as Olga Ostrevetsky armed with polyester strings and heavy,aggressive strokes disappointed the record crowd who had gathered to watch the match as she systematically took apart Dawn Kitner's old school retrieving game. In fact Dawn was not able to hold serve more than once throughout the match and lost 6-2,6-1.

In the Men's Singles Finals, Andrew Constant
( inspired by advice on this site) took pace off the ball,avoided giving Greg mid court balls and served up a storm with accurate placement and pace to defeat Greg tellier 6-3,6-4. Tellier just did not receive the fat balls his previous round opponent had gifted him. At the same time,for some reason, he did not dictate play as he usually does. Rather he was content in waiting for the right ball to take a swing at. Sometimes the match gets over while you are waiting as it did on this occasion.
On the other hand,why should Greg even care if he did not win the Ulster Open prize ? His real prize was present in the park watching daddy play-his infant daughter Sofia.

Greg Tellier with wife Angela and daughter Sofia

Post match interview with Andrew Constant 2012 Ulster Open Champ

Senior Men's Finals
Wayne Schaeffer (2) d Scott Taylor (1) 6-3,6-3

Senior Mixed Doubles

Witty/McAuliffe d Wainright/Turco 6-2,6-1

Senior Women's Doubles Finals

Gorrick/Noble(1) vs Playfair/Bayer

Women's Open Finals
Olga Ostrevetsky (2) d Dawn Kitner (4) 6-2,6-1

Men's Open Finals
Andrew Constant (1) vs Greg Tellier (2) 6-3,6-4

Saturday 7/21/12

Jen and Ben win Open Mixed Doubles title

Top seeds win Century Doubles

Match of the tournament : Senior Doubles Finals

Taylor/Turco win Open Doubles

Kitner/Back overwhelm younger opponents in Women's Doubles

Jen Crego and Ben Leighton won their maiden Open Mixed Doubles Ulster County title by defeating Karen Gill and Matt Canzonetti in straight sets. Ben's strong serve and grounstrokes coupled with Jen's trademark off pace semi-lobs helped the duo have the upper hand throughout the match.

In Century Doubles, the experienced pair of Matt Canzonetti and Jiim Steinberg crossed the finish line in 3 sets over Ed Rogers and Wayne Schaeffer. In the deciding set, the duo broke Wayne in the first game and were in complete control of the set till the end.

The Senior Men's Doubles ( Maurice Green/Vern Chrisjohn vs Tom Turco/Ravi Ramaswami) provided entertaining tennis to the spectators with high quality doubles play and qualified for the match of the tournament. The ultra close match which could have gone either way was decided in a 3rd set Super tie-break.
Final score : Green/Chrisjohn won 6-7,7-6,10-7

Buoyed by this match,Tom Turco carried his momentum to inspire his partner Scott Taylor in the Men's Open Doubles and the two defeated top seeded Maurice Green and Kevin Madonna 6-3,6-3 in an amazing display of doubles.

Not to be outdone, the 'older' pair of Dawn Kitner and Millie Back taught the younger pair of Olga Ostrevetsky and Sara O'Brien about the honor code in tennis in more than one way as they honorably cruised to a 6-2,6-2 victory in the Women's Open Doubles Finals that proved that tennis can be won by experience,guile,understanding,communication and fair play and not just by hitting the ball hard.

Videos below : 1. Canzonetti/Steinberg(Century doubles)
                             post-match interview
                        2. Intra-match interview just before the 3rd set
                           super tie-break (Senior doubles). Score at this
                           point: 6-7,7-6

Score at this point 6-7,7-6

Senior Men's Doubles Finals:
Chrisjohn/Green d Turco/Ramaswami (1) 6-7,7-6,10-7(3rd set super tie-break)

Century Doubles Finals
Canzonetti/Steinberg (1) d Scheffer/Rogers(2)

Open Mixed Doubles Finals
Jen Crego/Ben Leighton d Karen Gill/Matt Canzonetti (3)

Men's Open Doubles Finals
Tom Turco/Scott Taylor (2) d Kevin Madonna/Maurice Green (1)

Women's Open Doubles Finals

Back/Kitner (1) d Ostrovetsky/O'Brien

Friday 7/20/12

Thanks to Tom Turco, Scott Taylor,Mike Humes,Mike Hommel and especially Nick Scott for helping dry the courts

The two Mikes-Humes and Hommel blow drying the courts

Nail biting comeback win for Leighton/Crego
Madonna/Green in Open Doubles Finals
Gill/Canzonetti in Mixed Finals
Leighton/Crego vs Kitner/Schaeffer
This match gets the award for the 'snatching victory from the jaws of defeat' category. Facing a more experienced team, Leighton and Crego scratched,clutched,prayed,suffered,forehead tapped and finally let out a victory whoop. After losing the first set 4-6,they persevered to win the second in a tie-break and then finished it off 6-3. In the previous round they had knocked out the top seeds.
Nice going guys ! You are the Cinderella/Cinderfella story of the tournament !

Madonna/Green vs Metze/Steinberg
Kevin Madonna and Maurice Green proved why they are seeded #1 once again. With intense focus of Kevin and athleticism of Maurice they blinked just briefly in the first set when they were stretched to a tie-break and were down 0-2.After that it was all Kevin and Maurice who rolled over an extremely tough team of Chris Metze and James Steinberg 7-6,6-2.

Gill/Canzonetti vs Back/Ramaswami
When Matt Canzonetti plays well at the net, even his partner can sit on the sidelines,let alone his opponents ! And Matt played well at the net . Of course his partner Karen Gill refused to sit on the sidelines and ably assisted him. Well done,people ! 6-3,6-3.

Scott Taylor and Tom Turco were in the 3rd set on serve when rain stopped play

Chris Metze

Maurice Green and Kevin Madonna played great doubles

Dawn Kitner nee Brownlie is a local tennis legend.In many cases,' a nice tennis player' and 'a nice person' are oxymorons. Those of us who have known Dawn since was a young girl,have often opined that she is one of those rare anomalies i.e. a person who is not only a great tennis player but also a great person. It is so gratifying to have her back playing in our tournament. Good luck,Dawn and please play in our tournament again ! Here she is chatting with us :

Matt and Karen after their mixed doubles win.

A fine pair of tennis players!

Men's Open Doubles Semi Finals
Madonna/Green (1) d Metze/Steinberg (4) 7-6,6-2

Turco/Taylor (3) d Chrisjohn/Ricci (2)

Open Mixed Doubles Semi Finals
Jen Crego/Ben Leighton d Dawn Kitner/Wayne Schaeffer (4) 4-6,7-6,6-3

Karen Gill/Matt Canzonetti (3) d Milly Back/Ravi Ramaswami (2) 6-3,6-3

Thursday 7/19/12

(Videos below)

#1 and 2 seeds in finals- Men's Open and Senior Men's

# 1 Women's seed eliminated !

High Priestess Milly Back stars in come from behind Open Mixed Doubles win !

Spectators were treated to exciting tennis at Forsyth

Shawn Holzman (3) vs Greg Tellier (2)

In the end,it was not a question of if but of when the cramps would set in. Shawn Holzman's retrieving style of play resulted in prolonged rallies in hot,humid weather. His flawed strategy of not moving Tellier around,hitting 70% of the shots down the middle, and not giving him different looks at the ball was mere fodder for Greg who capitalized with booming ground strokes as ball after ball landed in his strike zone. Though the match went 3 sets (6-4,7-6(3),5-2), the prolonged nature of the rallies forced Holzman to retire when a second attack of cramps felled him.

Hard hitting Greg Tellier outlasted his opponent


Shawn Holzman's moonballs and defensive play in the hot weather were a recipe for cramps

Andrew Constant (1) vs Ravi Ramaswami (4)

The champion, Andrew Constant, was serving at his best in this hard fought match which was punctuated by backhand errors from Ramaswami, aggressive down the middle serves by Constant and hard rallies pushing each player to the limit.
Ramaswami's mid-court put away errors at game changing moments in the match swayed the momentum in Constant's favor,6-2,6-4. He will meet Tellier in the Finals on Sunday 7/22/12.

Olga Ostrevetsky (2) vs Jen Crego (3)

Ostrevetsky,the 16 year old prodigious USTA ranked junior's match versus local talent and college senior, Jen Crego proved to be a battle reminiscent of the well oiled Russian army and the less armed but wily and tenacious Afghan guerillas in the 1980s.
Jen Crego,with her semi-lobs and off-paced moon balls gave the USTA junior a lot of grief and for someone used to playing opponents who bash the ball back and forth,Ostrevetsky had many moments of frustration. Ultimately,it was Olga's match play experience that finally helped pave the way to her first Ulster County Finals, 6-3,6-4.

Karen Gill (1) vs Dawn Kitner (4)

It has happened to all of us and is well known even on the pro tour. Just ask Jana Novotna,Todd Martin,Guillermo Coria or even John McEnroe. It is a phenomenon called 'choking'.
'Choking' is a failure to win a point or a match from a position of advantage or when the player squanders a large lead. The brain goes foggy,the feet feel like lead,the strokes get tighter,panic sets in and thoughts of losing begin to clutter the mind. The opposite of choking is a 'clutch'. A clutch player rises to the occasion under pressure rather than collapsing.
In this case, Karen Gill was up 6-2,4-1 when either Karen went into choke mode or Dawn into a clutch mode. The match went 3 sets with former Ulster County champion (as Dawn Brownlie),
Dawn Kitner entered the Finals 2-6,7-5,6-3.

Back/Ramaswami (2) vs Ostrevetsky/Zerbo

High Priestess Milly Back's high spirited play made the difference in her Mixed Doubles match

They don't call Milly Back, 'High Priestess' for no reason !

In this Mixed Doubles match,Milly was attacked relentlessly by her opponents but she resisted -and how ! With her trademark looping,lefty topspin strokes ,down the middle spin serves and inspired footwork, Milly carried her partner,Ravi,throughout the match setting him up for volleys and overheads.Down a break in the deciding set, Milly patiently put on a courageous display of counter attacking and advised her partner,correctly,to 'take pace off'. The match finished almost at 9 pm with Milly and Ravi triumphing 6-2,3-6,6-4.
The Senior Men's singles matches were predictable with Scott Taylor (1) and Wayne Scheffer (2) posting easy wins against John Shelton and Paul Solis-Cohen.

Videos below : 1. Andrew Constant post-match interview

2. Karen Gill pre-match interview

3. Olga Ostrevetsky post-match interview

Senior Men's Singles Semi finals

Scott Taylor (1) d John Shelton 6-1,6-0

Wayne Schaeffer (2) d Paul Solis-Cohen 6-1,6-0

Men's Open Singles Semi finals

Andrew Constant (1) d Ravi Ramaswami (4) 6-2,6-4

Greg Tellier (2) d Shawn Holzman (3) (retired) 6-4,6-7(3),5-2 (retired)

Women's Open Singles Semi finals

Dawn Kitner (4) d Karen Gill (1)2-6,7-5,6-3

Olga Ostravetsky (2) d Jen Crego (3) 6-3,6-4

Open Mixed Doubles Quarter finals :

Milly Back/Ravi Ramaswami (2) d Olga Ostrovetsky/John Zerbo 6-2,3-6,6-4

Karen Gill/Matt Canzonetti (3) d Magda Toro/Jeffrey Knipe w/o

Century Doubles Semi Finals

Canzonetti/Steinberg(1) d Biro/Duke 7-5,6-2

Rogers/Schaeffer(2) d White/Balsamo 6-2,6-3

Wednesday 7/18/12

Play washed out !!
Despite best efforts by Tournament Directors Scott Taylor and Tom Turco and assisted by Karla Wainright(see video below),play was abandoned due to inclement weather. Play has been re scheduled for 7/19/12

Tuesday 7/17/12

Player Profile : Wayne Schaeffer
See Wayne Schaeffer in action

in Senior Men's Singles/ Open Mixed Doubles

and Century Doubles this week !!

Sunday 7/15/12

All Open Men's seeds advance
# 2 seeds knocked out in Senior Doubles(Men and Women)

# 1 seeds fall in Open Mixed Doubles

All Men's seeds advance

All 4 Open Men's seeds justified their seedings by advancing to the semi finals on Sunday in the 2012 Ulster County Open Tennis Tournament.

Tellier sweats it through to semis
The toughest match was a 3 setter between Randy Eskenazi and The Terminator, Greg Tellier. Randy counteracted Greg's booming groundstrokes with steady low trajectory groundies and by keeping them deep gave Greg trouble in teeing off. Randy also cleverly brought Greg in to the net with deftly placed drop shots and tried to pass him. In the end,the long and hard fought match went in favor of The Terminator-who at one point punched his racquet strings,in frustration, with his powerful fist. (The polyester won).


Never underestimate the power of Alu Power Rough strings !

Forsberg keeps up pressure on Ramaswami

Jon Forsberg is a former champion snowboarder and is gifted with extraordinary athletic skills.Thus this quarter final match was destined to be a "one more ball back in play" event which was as onerous as the oppressive humidity.The first set went to 4 all and then Ramaswami won the next 2 games to win the set. The second set was also a prolonged affair with the 4th seed winning it 6-3.

Interviews with Jon Forsberg and Ravi Ramaswami

In another match Andrew Constant,the # 1 seed, defeated Jihyuk Han in a match punctuated with the latter's trademark high looping topspin ground strokes. Ultimately,Andrew managed to stay focused and enter the semi-finals.

The # 2 seeds in the Senior Men's Doubles , Scott Taylor/Ed Rogers were bested by the pair of Maurice Green/Vern Chrisjohn, 6-4,6-3 with just one break of serve in each set while the # 2 seeds in Senior Women's Doubles were eliminated by Sanchez Playfair and Barbara Bayer. In the other Senior Women's Doubles encounter,top seeds Anne Gorick and Kathy noble triumphed over Maureen Rogers and Donna Viertel.
The # 1 seeds in the Open Mixed Doubles, Andrew Constant and Amanda Scott, were upset by Jen Crego and Ben Leighton in a 3 set duel 6-4,4-6,6-2. The rest of the Mixed Doubles matches,postponed due to inclement weather, will be played later in the week.

All results from 7/15/12:

Men's Open Singles

Andrew Constant(1) d Jiyhuk Han

Greg Tellier(2) d Randy Eskenazi

Shawn Holzman(3) d A. Cohen

Ravi Ramaswami(4) d Jon Forsberg

Men's Open Doubles

(Forsyth at 10.30 am)

Chris Metz/Jim Steinberg d Shawn Holzman/A.Zimmerman 6-4,7-6 (9)

Open Mixed Doubles

J.Crego/B.Leighton d Andrew Constant/Amanda Scott (1) 6-4,4-6,6-2

Postponed due to rain ( now scheduled for mid-week)
Milly Back/Ravi Ramaswami (2) vs Olga Ostrovesky/John Zerbo

Matt Canzonetti/Karen Gill(3) vs Magda Toro/Jeff Knipe

Dawn Kitner/Wayne Schaeffer(4) vs Vicky/Kevin Madonna

Senior Men's Doubles

Vern Chrisjohn/Maurice Green d Scott Taylor/Ed Rogers(2)

Senior Women's Doubles

(Forsyth at 10 am)

Anne Gorrick/Kathy Noble (1) d Donna Viertel/Maureen Rogers

Barbara Bayer/Sanchez Playfair d Amy Keller/Karla Wainright (2)

Saturday 7/14/12

Holzman wins in thriller

Men's seeds # 1 and 2 survive scare

# 2 seed in Senior Women's out

Holzman wins in thriller

Shawn Holzman showed his experience and a lot of grit as he vanquished a persistent Ben Leighton 6-2,4-6,6-4 in the second round of the Ulster County Open Tennis Tournament this morning. After winning the first set, the match swayed between squandering game points and break points till Leighton broke Holzman at 4-4 ( nice fling of the racquet to the back fence,Shawn !!) and held serve to take the set.

In the deciding set, Shawn came out strongly with an attacking net game only to abandon that strategy when Ben made a couple of good passes. After being broken early,and a lot of long points,looping groundies and moonballs later ,Shawn broke Ben to make it 4-4 and then held serve. At 15-40, Shawn did a Michael Chang move by stepping way in on Ben's second serve only to be surprised by a hard serve. At 30-40,a long baseline rally ensued which ended when Shawn forced an error of Ben's backhand.

Shawn Holzman interview

Seed # 1 and 2 survive scare

Jonah Berkowitz might want to consider 3 as his lucky number. In his first round match, his opponent Steve Hack was leading 6-4,3-0 when Jonah launched a comeback taking the next 8 games and winning the match. In his second round against #1 seed Andrew Constant, he was down 3-6,1-3 when Jonah performed another charge and won the set 6-4. The # 1 seed had to fight to stay in the tournament but ultimately prevailed 6-3,4-6,6-3.

Not to be outdone,the 2nd seed,Greg Tellier a.k.a. The Terminator, almost got terminated himself in the first set with his opponent David White serving at 5-4, 40-30. However Greg managed to fight it off and then cruised to a 7-5,6-1 victory.

In other matches:

Ravi Ramaswami won over Anthony Sicari 6-1,6-0

Jihyuk Han beat Justin Horvers 6-0,6-1

Justin Horvers, a very nice and gracious young man

Jon Forsberg defeated Chris Drazek 6-4,6-1

At Ulster County Community College Courts,

Dawn Kitner (4),back in town for the week, defeated Melissa Bamford 6-0,6-1 while her Mixed Doubles partner Wayne Schaeffer (2) beat Don Tegeler 6-0,6-0.

Wayne Schaeffer

In the Women's Open first round match,local high school standout Olga Ostrovetsky (2) beat her doubles partner Sara O'Brien 6-0,6-0. In the women's senior division Sharon Crego,the # 2 seed was upset by Laurie Hedlund.Laurie exacted revenge for her defeat at the hands of Sharon's daughter, # 3 seed Jen Crego, in the Women's Open division earlier that morning.

Meanwhile there was doubles action throughout the day.Scores are posted below.

Men's Century Doubles:

4 pm at Forsyth

Matt Canzonetti/Jim Steinberg (1) d L.Smith/K.Esrick 6-1,6-2

E.Biro/Lou Duke d Bob Witty/S.McAuliffe

D.White/R.Balsamo d Anne Gorick/Fred Maynard 6-2,6-1

Women's Open Singles:

8.30 am at UCCC

Dawn Kitner (4) d Melissa Bamford 6-0,6-1

Jen Crego (3) d Laurie Hedlund

Olga Ostrovetsky (2) d Sara O'Brien 6-0,6-0

Men's Open Singles

8.30 am at Forsyth

Andrew Constant (1) d Jonah Berkowitz 6-3,4-6,6-3

Jihyuk Han d Justin Horvers 6-0,6-1

Jon Forsberg d Chris Drazek 6-4,6-0

Ravi Ramaswami (4) d Anthony Sicari 6-1,6-0

8.30 am at MJM

A.Cohen d Mike Hommel 6-2,6-1

Randy Eskenazi d Paul Mushlit 6-0,6-0

Greg Tellier (2) d David White 7-5,6-1

Shawn Holzman (3) d Ben Leighton 6-2,4-6,6-4

Men's Open Doubles

10.30 am at Forsyth:

J.Forsberg/Jihyuk Han d D.Burchfield/B/Leighton

10.30 am at MJM:

Holzman/Zimmerman d Sicari/Zerbo 6.2,7-5

4 pm at MJM

Kevin Madonna/Maurice Green(1) d A.Cohen/G.Cohen 6-0,6-2

Scott Taylor/Tom Turco (3) d J.Berkowitz/J.Berstell 6-3,6-4

Vic Ricci/Vern Chrisjohn (1) d J.Forsberg/Jihyuk Han 6-2,6-3

Senior Men's Singles

10 am at Forsyth

Scott Taylor (1) d Robert Witty 6-1,6-0

8.30 am at UCCC

Wayne Schaeffer (2) d Don Tegeler 6-0,6-0

John Shelton d Robert Grossman

Paul Solis-Cohen d Tomasz Andruczyk

Senior Women's Singles

10 am at UCCC

Elisa Staub (1) d Lisa Cutten

Laurie Hedlund d Sharon Cego (2)

Friday 7/13/12

Members of the Tom Turco Fan Club enjoying tennis at Forsyth Park

7/13/12

Crego/Leighton win in Mixed Doubles slug fest.

Seeds dominate in Century/Senior Doubles

The second day of the 2012 Ulster County Open Tennis Tournament featured Doubles play.

In the first round Open Mixed Doubles encounter, former high school mates Jen Crego and Ben Leighton overcame a spirited defense from Sara O'Brien and Anthony Sicari and won 6-1,6-2. Leighton's strong serve and Crego's quick reflexes helped hold back Sicari's strong net play and O'Brien's looping groundstrokes. See interviews with both teams below:

Anthony Sicari/Sara O'Brien pre match interview

Ben and Jen post match interview

Top seeds Tom Turco and Ravi Ramaswami won their Senior Doubles match against John and Larry Shelton 6-1,6-0 while Century Doubles #1 seeds Ed Rogers and Wayne Schaeffer beat high spirited Ray Amell and John Shelton 6-0,6-1.

Changeover and post match interviews with Ray Amell below:

Interview at changeover (Score at this point: 0-6,0-5 )

Post-match interview with Roy Amell

Of course, we could not deny the winners Rogers/Schaeffer who demanded their very own interview:

The other match played was an Open Doubles where the Cohens ,a Father-Son team, defeated Mike Hommel and

Chris Drazek 6-2,6-4.

Post-match interview with the Cohens

Finally, Jonah Berkowitz weighs in regarding his agonizing match against the Hacker, Steve Hack (4-6,6-3,6-3).
After all that trouble, Jonah is set to meet the # 1 seed Andrew Constant in his next round...

All results from7/13/12:

Open Mixed Doubles

Jen Crego /Ben Leighton d Sara O'Brien/Anthony Sicari 6-2,6-1

Century Doubles

Ed Rogers/Wayne Schaeffer (1) d Ray Amell / John Shelton 6-0,6-1

Senior Men's Doubles

Tom Turco/Ravi Ramaswami (1) d John/Larry Shelton 6-1,6-0

Men's Open Doubles

A.Chen/G.Cohen d Mike Hommel/Chris Drazek 6-2,6-4

J. Berkowitz/J. Berstell w/o S. Burchfield/N. Caprotti

7/12/12

A brief word from Tournament Director Scott Taylor

Cutten holds nerve to down Viertel
Hack valiantly falls to Berkowitz

2 matches dominated the 1st day's play at the 2012 Ulster County Open Tennis Tournament.
In the first match Lisa Cutten beat Donna Viertel 6-2,2-6,10-7.
Despite winning the first set easily,Cutten faced a belligerent Viertel who won the second set 6-2 with aggressive net play and intense focus. Though the momentum was on her side, Viertel was a little tentative in the super tie-break and this proved to be her undoing as Cutten narrowly won the breaker. " I should have stayed aggressive", said Donna after the match," but I let up a bit in the tie-break" Watch Lisa Cutten's pre and post match interviews here:

Pre-match interview

Post-match interview

In the second match J.Berkowitz came from behind to defeat Steve Hack 4-6,6-3,6-3. Steve played his indefatigable retrieving game and was up 3-0 in the second but Berkowitz played an aggressive net game and put away overheads consistently to win the next 6 games. In a see saw 3rd set, Berkowitz gained ground as Hack ran out of energy and saw himself edged out 3-6.