
2002 SUMMER SINGLES LEAGUES
The 2002 Summer Singles League ended its fifth year with a five-day tournament, held September 26-30 at the Walnut Creek Tennis Center. The tournament included over 225 of the league's 450 total participants, each who played at least six regular season matches to qualify.
On the Men's side, #2 seeded Bob Walgren successful defended his 4.0 title by posting an 8-0 record in the regular season, then successfully working his way through the tournament draw and beating top-seeded Rich Favreau in the final 6-3, 6-4. Antioch's Jerry Garcia went 9-1 during the regular season in Men's 3.5, with his only loss to Larry Fredricks. Garcia and Fredricks, the tournament's top seed, met again in the quarterfinals, with Garcia avenging his earlier defeat by a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 score. He defeated #3 seed Allan Richardi in the final, 6-4, 6-1. In the Men's 5.0-5.5 division, Shane Jones proved that, often, regular season results don't mean much come tournament time. After posting a 4-5 record this summer, Jones saved his best tennis for last, winning four straight matches, including a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 win over #1 seed Kent Lindeman in the final. Jackson Riker won the Men's 4.5 championship with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Michael Paden.
Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein became the first two-time winner on the Women's side, posting a 6-0 regular season record in the Women's 4.5-5.0 division and gaining the tournament title with a hard fought 6-4, 6-4 win over Karen Presnell. Ramsower-Pearlstein also won the division in 2000. Heidi Belton was runner-up in the 2001 Women's 4.0 division, but took the next step this year by winning the tournament, albeit the hard way. Top seeded Belton lost the first set to #2 seed Maria Ley in about 15 minutes, then rebounded to capture an 0-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory. Jane Ladrech steamrolled her way through the Women's 3.5 regular season and tournament, winning 11 consecutive matches (while not losing more than 6 games in any one match) and beating #5 seed Jennifer Scriabine in the final, 6-3, 6-2. Karen Sonobe was unseeded in the Women's 3.0 tournament, yet put together five wins in a row including victories over the #5 and #2 seeds before beating previously undefeated and top-seeded HilaryAnderson in the final, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
| Men's 5.0-5.5 |
Shane Jones (Clayton) d. Kent Lindeman (Walnut Creek) |
6-1, 3-6, 7-5 |
| Men's 4.5 |
Jackson Riker (Lafayette) d. Michael Paden (Benicia) |
6-2, 6-1 |
| Men's 4.0 |
Bob Walgren (Walnut Creek) d. Rich Favreau (Alamo) |
6-3, 6-4 |
| Men's 3.5 |
Jerry Garcia (Antioch) d. Allan Richardi (Orinda) |
6-4, 6-1 |
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| Women's 4.5-5.0 |
Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein (Walnut Creek) d. Karen Presnell (Alamo) |
6-4, 6-4 |
| Women's 4.0 |
Heidi Belton (Walnut Creek) d. Maria Ley (Walnut Creek) |
0-6, 7-5, 6-4 |
| Women's 3.5 |
Jane Ladrech (Lafayette) d. Jennifer Scriabine (Walnut Creek) |
6-3, 6-2 |
| Women's 3.0 |
Karen Sonobe (Dublin) d. Hilary Anderson (Concord) |
2-6, 6-2, 6-2 |
2001 SUMMER SINGLES LEAGUES
The Walnut Creek Racquet Club (WCRC) completed its 2001 Summer Singles Leagues with a season-ending tournament held September 28-30 at the Walnut Creek Tennis Center. The program, in its fourth year, enjoyed the participation of 310 men and women who completed over 1,000 matches combined between June 1 and September 15. Players were seeded in the tournament based on their performance during the 15-week regular season.
The best match of the entire tournament was the last San Ramons Peter Lindstroms 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8) victory over Benicias Chris Bown in the Mens 5.0-5.5 final. Lindstrom, a recent transplant from Atlanta and the competitive ALTA leagues, went undefeated in regular season play but met his toughest test against the #4 seed Bown, having to rally from a set down and 2-5 in the third set to win the match including an exciting 10-8 tiebreaker. Walnut Creeks Anton Guliaev breezed through the Mens 4.5 draw, losing a total of 17 games in 5 tournament matches to claim victory. Also undefeated during the regular season (7-0), Guliaev defeated Charles Kearney in the final, 6-1, 6-1. He will anchor the Mens 4.5 team that will travel to Arizona in November to compete in USTA Nationals. Kearney, seeded #21, put together an impressive string of 4 victories against higher ranked opponents to get to the final, including a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win in the semifinals versus #9 seed Dimitar Zaprianov.
Bob Walgren claimed the title he thought was rightfully his last year when he had to retire due to injury in the 2000 Mens 4.0 final only six points away from victory. Walgren, who dropped only one set the entire season and tournament combined, defeated Dan Danner 6-2, 6-1 in the championship match. The sixth-seeded Walgren gained a small measure of revenge in the semifinals with a 7-6 (3), 4-3 ret. win over Lafayettes Eric Ladrech, who had beaten Walgren six weeks earlier to win the WCRC Club Championship in Mens B Singles. Walnut Creeks Ron Helgesson is a seasoned veteran of USTA NorCal tournament play, which served him well in capturing the Mens 3.5 title, with a solid 6-3, 6-4 win over #12 seed Mike Joe in the finals. Helgesson, who went 9-1 during the regular season, survived a scare from John OReilly in the Round of 16 and then proceeded to dismantle his three remaining opponents in straight sets.
On the women's side, Martinezs Mary Green dropped a total of five games in three matches to easily garner her first league title. Green defeated Marianne Dundon 6-1, 6-2 in the finals. Green was the sixth seed, the result of losses to defending champion Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein and former TCU star Melanie Pizzoli, neither of who played the tournament. In the Women's 4.0 draw, top seeded Eileen Ko survived a tough first set to beat #3 seed Helene Redsun in the final 7-5, 6-1.
Walnut Creeks Shari Huber fought her way through several three set matches early in the tournament to win the Womens 3.5 division. #8 Huber upset #1 seeded Jane Ladrech 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals before defeating Martinezs Valerie Fung-a-Ling in the finals 6-4, 6-3.In a matchup of the divisions top two players, Walnut Creeks Carmen Duarte prevailed in a tough three set final over Linda Richardi 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to win the Women's 3.0 division. Duarte had posted a perfect 9-0 record during the regular season.
| Men's 5.0-5.5 |
Peter Lindstrom (San Ramon) d. Chris Bown (Benicia) |
4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8) |
| Men's 4.5 |
Anton Guliaev (Walnut Creek) d. Charles Kearney (Walnut Creek) |
6-1, 6-1 |
| Men's 4.0 |
Bob Walgren (Walnut Creek) d. Dan Danner (Walnut Creek) |
6-2, 6-1 |
| Men's 3.5 |
Ron Helgesson (Walnut Creek) d. Mike Joe (Walnut Creek) |
6-3, 6-4 |
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| Women's 4.5-5.0 |
Mary Green (Martinez) d. Marianne Dundon (Martinez) |
6-1, 6-2 |
| Women's 4.0 |
Eileen Ko (Walnut Creek) d. Helene Redsun (Danville) |
7-5, 6-1 |
| Women's 3.5 |
Shari Huber (Walnut Creek) d. Valerie Fung-a-Ling (Martinez) |
6-4, 6-3 |
| Women's 3.0 |
Carmen Duarte (Walnut Creek) d. Linda Richardi (Orinda) |
6-4, 4-6, 7-5 |
2000 SUMMER SINGLES LEAGUES
The Walnut Creek Racquet Club (WCRC) completed its 2000 Mens and Womens 2000 Summer Singles League during a season-ending tournament, held September 29-October 1 at the Walnut Creek Tennis Center. 170 players participating the league's third campaign.
Concord's Gene Bernotas completed an undefeated season in the Men's 3.5 division with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Rick Mueller in the final. The #1 seed going into the tourney with a 9-0 record, Bernotas did face a tough challenge from lefthander and #3-ranked John Bondon in the semifinals before prevailing 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Mueller, the only male to complete all 12 regular season matches, upset #2 seed Gabe Goldstein in the semifinals 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. How do you not drop a set in a tournament but fail to win it? Bob Walgren found out the hard way in the Men's 4.0 division when he had to retire in the final, leading Andrew Bove 6-1, 4-2. Walgren had posted convincing straight-set wins in his previous three rounds and was a mere six points from victory before his injury. To Bove's credit, he simply outlasted all of his opponents during the weekend, including a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over #1 Sean Zhang in the quarterfinals. He also beat #4 Colin Armitage in the semis before upsetting Walgren, the #3 seed.
Clayton's Shane Jones won the Men's 4.5 Championship, winning four rounds without dropping a set. Jones, the #3 seed, defeated #4 seed Steve Robinson from Moraga 6-3, 6-1 in the final. #5 seed Roy Trafalski displayed strong serving and consistent baseline play through the tournament to capture the 5.0 crown. Trafalski beat #3 Dave Weingart in the final 7-6 (1), 6-1 and, like Jones in the 4.5 division, did not lose a set the entire weekend. First round matches in this group proved the most compelling as 6 of out 8 went three sets, including Martin Dunlap's 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Rusty Lent that clocked in at 3 hours and 20 minutes in length. Amazingly enough, Chris Lewis' 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (6) win over Chris Bown lasted nearly four hours. Lewis came back later in the day to upset #1 seed Kent Lindeman 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 before losing to Trafalski in the semis.
#2 seeded Sheila Payne of Clayton upset #1 seed Vivian Reiser in the Women's 3.0 final 7-5, 6-3. Earlier in the day, Payne escaped with a tough semifinal win over #3 seed Shari Huber 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. Suzanne Beck captured the Women's 3.5 title without dropping a set in four rounds. Beck defeated #1 seed and previously unbeaten (11-0) Heidi Belton 7-5, 7-5 in the semifinals and then defeated #2 seed (10-0) Jennifer Scriabine in the final 6-2, 6-1. Melisa Knapp won a grueling three-hour quarterfinal match against Mary Jane Kiefer 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 6-4 before losing in the semis to Scriabine. May Wong upheld her regular season #1 ranking in the Women's 4.0 division by beating Claudia Suh in the tournament final 6-4, 6-1. Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein completed an undefeated season in the Women's 4.5/5.0 division, posting a 7-0 record and beating Annette D'Antonio in a closely-contested final 6-4, 7-5.
| Men's 5.0-5.5 |
Roy Trafalski (Walnut Creek) d. Dave Weingart (Martinez) |
7-6 (1), 6-1 |
| Men's 4.5 |
Shane Jones (Clayton) d. Steve Robinson (Moraga) |
6-3, 6-1 |
| Men's 4.0 |
Andrew Bove (Walnut Creek) d. Bob Walgren (Walnut Creek) |
1-6, 2-4 ret. |
| Men's 3.5 |
Gene Bernotas (Concord) d. Rick Mueller (Walnut Creek) |
6-1, 6-1 |
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| Women's 4.5-5.0 |
Chris Ramsower-Pearlstein d. Annette D' Antonio (Alamo) |
6-4, 7-5 |
| Women 4.0 |
May Wong (Martinez) d. Claudia Suh (Benicia) |
6-4, 6-1 |
| Women's 3.5 |
Suzanne Beck (Clayton) d. Jennifer Scriabine (Walnut Creek) |
6-2, 6-1 |
| Women's 3.0 |
Sheila Payne (Clayton) d. Vivian Reiser (Clayton) |
7-5, 6-3 |
1999 FALL SINGLES LEAGUES
Todd Jordan (5.0-5.5), Federico Waisman (4.5) and Paul Lisi (4.0) captured the season-ending titles of the WCRC's 1999 Fall Singles Leagues on December 10-12. Former University of Wisconsin standout Jordan was as good as his regular season #1 ranking, beating NorCal's top-ranked 5.0 player, Robbie Phillips, in a hard-fought three setter 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Walnut Creek's Waisman ended the year with an impressive 14 straight wins, capping off the run with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Danville's Greg Lane in the Men's 4.5 final. Lisi upset top seed Glenn Azcueta of Pittsburg and No. 2 Sean Zhang of Walnut Creek 6-3, 6-3 to win the Men's 4.0 division. In only its second year, the league brought together 120 players from across Contra Costa County.
| Men's 5.0-5.5 |
Todd Jordan (Walnut Creek) d. Robbie Phillips (Lafayette) |
6-4, 3-6, 6-3 |
| Men's 4.5 |
Federico Waisman (Walnut Creek) d. Greg Lane (Danville) |
6-1, 6-1 |
| Men's 4.0 |
Paul Lisi (Walnut Creek) d. Sean Zhang (Walnut Creek) |
6-3, 6-3 |
1998 WINTER SINGLES LEAGUES
| Men's 5.0-5.5 |
Kent Lindeman (Walnut Creek) d. Ted Stuckslager (San Francisco) |
7-6 (3), 6-1 |
| Men's 4.0-4.5 |
Dave Weingart (Martinez) d. Wynn Tamura (Lafayette) |
6-2, 6-2 |
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