WDSA Turner Cup Update: Qualifiers Grainger And Leonard Surge Into The Semis By Rob Dinerman Dateline January 23rd ---
Trailing their higher-seeded opponents Amy Gross and Fernanda Rocha
11-4 in the fifth game of their qualifying match this morning, Natalie
Grainger and Greenwich Academy senior Kaylee Leonard reeled off an 11-2
match-closing run which they then punctuated this evening with a
rousing 15-11 in the fifth quarterfinal victory over second seeds
Meredeth Quick and Steph Hewitt to get this year’s $20,000 Turner Cup
off to a memorable start. In the wake of their pair of consecutive
dramatic wins today, the first via an eleventh-hour rally and the
second by holding off the comeback bid of Quick and Hewitt, who won
this tourney three years ago and took the third and fourth games this
evening after going down two games to love, first-time partners
Grainger and Leonard will now face another first-time pairing in the
Saturday-afternoon bottom-half semi, namely Tarsh McElhinny and Carrie
Hastings, who won 3-0 over the veteran Philadelphians Amy Milanek and
Dawn Gray.
In the top half of this tournament, which is being hosted
this year by the Westchester Country Club in Rye, NY, top-seeded
defending champions Narelle Kirzek and Suzie Pierrepont won in straight
games over WSA singles standouts Jenny Duncalf and Rachel Grinham
(qualifying victors in four against Karen Jerome and Sarah West). Their
semifinal opponent will be Amanda Sobhy and Victoria Simmonds, who
vanquished Latasha Khan and Dana Betts, three games to love. The final
is set for Sunday afternoon at 1 PM.
