Chicago Charities coverage by Jean Kempner

Jean Kempner reported for PTM:

As the first “major” of the year, the Chicago Charities tournament picked up where last year’s Nationals left off. Story lines were continued, rivalries were resumed and new partnerships featured exciting and fresh dynamics.

The Women’s tournament showcased all of last season’s top teams and, though the pairings hadn’t changed, the results were clearly different. Mary Doten and Susie Keane came in as defending National Champions and made it to the final without dropping a set to stage a rematch of last season’s National final against Kerry Delmonico and Aila Main. Delmonico and Main had a tougher road and won a three-set semi against Cynthia Dardis and Amy Shea 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Doten and Keane had beaten Sally Cottingham and Chris Sheldon in their semi in a 6-3, 6-3 slugfest. Cottingham and Sheldon had broken through to their first Chicago semi by defeating Bobo Delaney and Tonia Mangan in a three-set quarter ending an “0 for 5″ losing streak against the always-tough east coast team.

To say that the women’s final was a great match would be an understatement. The best two teams over the last three seasons squared off and, after some early jitters on both sides, the match settled into a rhythm of great shot-making and subtle momentum changes. Delmonico and Main took the first set 6-3 before Doten and Keane ratcheted up their offense to win the second set, 7-5. Responding to the aggressive attack, Delmonico and Main picked up their volleying and, as is the case in tight matches, they managed to win one or two more key points than their opponents and took the final set and the championship, 6-4.

Aila Main described the match as “the best match Kerry and I have ever played. Doten and Keane are great competitors and the match easily could have gone either way.”

Back-draw winners were: Cooper/Rohrbach (64′s), Blackwell/Yamada (32′s), Frei/Sierks (16′s), and Prop/Schneebeck (quarters).

The Men’s draw was made more interesting by the debuts of some new top teams and the resurgence of Chris Gambino and Dave Ohlmuller. Flashing back to their amazing run of three years ago, Gambino and Ohlmuller won the Championship without losing a set and defeated the winners of the last two Nationals Championships in the process.

The semis featured Gambino and Ohlmuller against the 2006 Nationals winners and top ranked team of Dave Keevins and Brian Uihlein. After being down 2-5 in the first set, the former number one team steamrolled the rest of the way for a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory. Gambino-Ohlmuller had defeated 2005 Nationals champions Bill Anderson and Mike Stulac in the quarters in dominating fashion 6-1, 6-1.

The other semi was a great clash of a legendary team and a new team of two players who are knocking on the door. Mike Cochrane and Scott Estes, partnered just this season, took down Flip Goodspeed and Scott Mansager, 6-1, 7-5. Cochrane’s all-court play and Estes’ brick wall consistency proved too potent a combination for the veteran Goodspeed-Mansager team. Cochrane and Estes had beaten Bill Fiedler and Mike Marino in three sets in the quarters to avenge their finals loss at this year’s Premier Cup in what was the most entertaining match of the tournament.

With a “we’re back and we’re serious” confidence, Gambino and Ohlmuller showed what made them such a dominant team in the past. Ohlmuller’s unique and spectacular volleying style left the opponents and the crowd shaking their heads, and Gambino’s solid and intelligent all-around play was too much for Cochrane and Estes to overcome. The winners unforced error count was in single digits and they fashioned a methodical 6-3, 6-3 win to take the Charities title.

Back draw winners were: Kepner/Sturges (128′s), Baladad/Martin (64′s), Albrikes/Jonason (32′s), Broderick/Moore (16′s), and Anderson/Stulac (quarters).

The Men’s 95′s event was won for the second year in a row by the father/son team of Scott Estes Sr and Scott Jr. Their victory this year was over Mike Sullivan and Rick Johnston in a hard fought three setter.

All three events fielded a total of 130 teams and made for a great weekend of platform tennis.

The Glen View Club staff did it’s usual first-class job and helped to make the Chicago Charities one of the stellar tournaments of the season.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 8, Issue 3, January, 2007