Suzie Pierrepont And Carrie Hastings Capture Women's World Doubles Crown  
by Rob Dinerman


Dateline May 10th --- Top seeds Suzie Pierrepont and Carrie Hastings out-played their British compatriots Gina Stoker and Victoria Simmonds 15-10, 13 and 10 this afternoon in the final round of the biennial Women’s World Doubles, sponsored by J. P. Morgan and Trunk Club and hosted by the Onwentsia Club in suburban Chicago. Pierrepont and Hastings rode the momentum of their comeback five-game semifinal win over Canadians Seanna Keating and Steph Hewitt and carried on their impressive play throughout today’s final, while Stoker and Simmonds, straight-set winners over 2013 champs Natalie Grainger and Amanda Sobhy yesterday afternoon, seemed slightly drained by their semifinal performance and were playing from behind throughout most of the match. It was the best possible WDSA swan song for Hastings, a finalist with Ben Howell in the 2011 U. S. Mixed Doubles, who for years has been based in Philadelphia, most recently at the Merion Cricket Club, and who with husband Michael Bull is planning to return to their native England later this month.

   Hewitt was able to rebound from Saturday’s loss in the women’s event by partnering Viktor Berg to victory in today’s final round of the Mixed Doubles competition, where they weathered the loss of a match-ball opportunity in the third game and reasserted themselves in the fourth to close out a 15-13, 15-7, 14-15, 15-6 triumph over Americans Sobhy and Chris Callis. The Men’s title was won by British stars Clive Leach and John Russell in five games over 2011 and 2013 champs Ben Gould and Damien Mudge of Australia. The tournament organizers were able to raise $400,000, with a significant donation from the proceeds to benefit METROsquash, the Chicago-based youth enrichment group. This World Doubles event was in lieu of the METROsquash Open, a fixture on the WDSA women’s pro doubles tour which will return to the schedule next season. There are still two more tour stops on the 2014-15 WDSA schedule, namely the Wilson Cup, which will be held in Southampton in July, and a new event, the Nantucket Invitational, set for August.