Baltimore Cup SDA Doubles First-Round Stunner: Qualifiers Fred Reid Jr. And Dan Roberts Oust Price And Leach
by Rob Dinerman
Dateline March 1st --- In the foremost upset of the entire SDA pro doubles season, qualifiers and first-time partners Fred Reid Jr. and Dan Roberts, held to single figures in two of the first three games and facing match-ball against them in the fourth, surged to an incredible 8-15 15-11 5-15 15-14 15-11 victory over second seeds and reigning North American Open Doubles champions Paul Price and Clive Leach Friday night in the opening round of the inaugural Baltimore Cup before a disbelieving but admiring crowd at the Baltimore Country Club. Reid and Roberts likely gained some momentum from their qualifying-round 3-0 win over Patrick Bedore, head pro at the host club, and Yasir Butt, and Leach and Price may well have still been reeling from their semifinal fiasco six days earlier in Brooklyn, in which Price retired due to a leg injury with his team trailing Damien Mudge and Ben Gould, two games to love and 9-3 down in the third, but this was still a shocking result and an unexpected christening of this new event on the SDA schedule.
Roberts and Reid will face Jonny Smith and Greg Park, straight-game quarterfinal winners over qualifiers Shaun Johnstone and Columbia coach Jacques Swanepoel, in the bottom-half semifinal Saturday evening, while the other semi will match Damien Mudge/Ben Gould and Matt Jenson/Preston Quick.
Back To Main
