CAY HILL--The Pineapple Pete 2017 Open Singles Tennis Tournament at the tennis courts of the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex is reaching the final rounds.
The semifinals and finals are on the way this weekend, Monday and Tuesday, weather permitting.
In the Men’s open the two best players of Group 3 and Group 4 will advance into the semi-finals.
Group 3 consisted of Ronnie Carty, Gabriel Bigotti and Martijn Eerland. Action started as Carty faced Eerland. Eerland could not find his groove as Carty was on fire and varied his game. Carty won (6-2, 6-1.)
Carty next faced Bigotti. This was a spectacular match and came down to Carty running out of gas in the third set. Bigotti won (6-2, 2-6, 6-2.)
Eerland took in Bigotti in the final group match. Eerland regrouped from the previous loss and surprised the fans by getting the W. Eerland won (6-4, 6-4.)
Group 4 consisted of Juan Muruete-Goyena, Bas v.d. Bosch and Sam Bashir. Bosch faced Muruete-Goyena in the group opener. The match was described as “The Match of the tournament” so far.
It was a see-saw battle with both players having opportunities to win. Bosch was victorious (6-4, 1-6, 7-5.)
Bashir was to face Muruete-Goyena. Bashir was given the win as Muruete-Goyena could not reschedule his travel arrangements.
Bosch and Bashirclosed the round with a very tactical match. Bashir a top athlete runs down most balls. Bosch had volley when possible and then pound fastballs past Bashir. Bosch won (6-4, 6-1.)
In the Men’s 40+ the players that advanced to the Quarterfinals were Richard Boyd, Hans de Bruyne, Paul van den Hoogen, Ronnie Carty, Gabriel Bigotti, Lucas Knol, William Irish and Sam Bashir.
Carty faced Knol. Knol played a great first set but could not maintain the level. Carty won (6-4, 6-1.)
Boyd with his slice proved to be too much to handle for de Bruyne. Boyd won (6-1, 6-1.)
Bashir out ran Irish. Bashir showed his skills which frustrated Irish. Bashir won (6-1, 6-0.)
In the Women’s open the first placed players of Group 3 and Group 4 advance.
Group 3 consisted of Hilde van Ekdom, Carla van Dam and Debbie Zwanikken-Richardson.
Van Ekdom Van Dam showed her dominance besting Van Ekdom (6-1, 6-0.)
Zwanikken-Richardson next faced Van Ekedom. Van Ekdom won (6-1, 6-4.)
Van Dam closed the round against Zwanikken-Richardson. Despite some long rallies up and down Van Dam won (6-0, 6-2.)
Group 4 consisted out of Tess Blom, Sabine Leijten and Aukje van Kuiken.
Blom started against Leijten. As the higher ranked player, Blom was expected to go through. Leijten ran down allot but could not stop Blom who won (6-0, 6-0.)
Leijten next faced Van Kuiken. In a topsy turvy match Leijten won in final super tie break (7-5, 2-6, 10-6)
Blom blasted her way to victory against new comer Van Kuiken to win (6-1, 6-0.)
This weekend the matches will start Saturday at 5:00pm, Sunday at 4:00pm, Monday at 4:00pm and Tuesday at 6:00pm.
