(Courtesy of the ITF: http://www.itftennis.com/seniors/news/articles/super-saturday-sees-winners-decided-in-umag.aspx)
The final results of the Super-Seniors World Individual Championships saw winners from countries all over the world including Chile, Canada, Australia and Czech Republic. Seven hundred and fifteen players took part in the event from 37 different nations, competing in six different age categories from 60 to 85 and over. This year also saw the introduction of mixed doubles.
In the Men’s 75 singles Frantisek Cech won his first-ever singles title after defeating King Van Nostrand (USA) 64 75 in the final. Van Nostrand was gunning for his tenth singles world title but his Czech opponent proved too strong and won his country’s first world title since 2004.
Unseeded Frederique Caillard from France made it all the way through to the Women’s 70 singles final but her fairytale run came to an end against second seeded German Heide Orth. Orth was too strong for her French opponent winning 61 61 in a one-sided final and claiming her tenth world title.
Tina Karwasky of the USA won the Women’s 60 singles, defeating Heide Eisterlehner from Germany in the final, and Frenchwoman Gail Benedetti won the Women’s 65 singles. It was the second year running that Benedetti had achieved the double of winning the Women’s 65 team championship, the Kitty Godfree Cup, then adding the individual world title.
There were more familiar champions in the Men’s 60 and 80 events with wins for Andrew Rae and Lorne Main respectively. Australian Rae beat France’s Bruno Renoult in the Men’s 60 singles decider to give him his seventh singles world title. Main won a staggering 14th world title after his opponent George McCabe of USA was forced to retire at 0-4 down in the first set.
In the Men’s 85 singles unseeded Chilean Jose Castellano del Campo defeated fourth seeded Australian Doug Corbett 61 36 63 to claim Chile’s first world championships title since 1989 and only its third title overall. Castellano del Campo was unknown to many of his opponents in the Men’s 85 division as he had never previously played outside South America, but showed plenty of cunning and ability to seal the title.
The Men’s 70 singles final was played in front of a large crowd on the Grandstand court on Sunday. Austria’s Peter Pokorny won his eighth singles world championship title and his 16th in total after he defeated Fred Drilling of the USA 62 64.
Topics: Andrew Rae, Frantisek Cech, Jose Castellano del Campo, King Van Nostrand, Lorne Main, Peter Pokorny, senior tennis championships, Sports, Super Senior World Individual Championships, Tennis, Tina Karwasky, Umag tennis news