May - June 2003
Vol. 14, No. 3 | Contents
by Jo Shattuck
& Ryan John
[ drawsheet ]
It was cold and the snow was coming down heavy, closing schools and making travel treacherous … but it still wasn’t enough to keep the top lady pros from competing at The Five Seasons Country Club in Cincinnati, Ohio in mid-January. Kerri Wachtel, ranked No.3 on the LPRA tour, is the Racquet Sports Coordinator for Five Seasons and wanted to put on a show for her hometown fans.
The local crowd got what they wanted right off the bat when Kerri faced her mother, Gerri Stoffregen, in the round of 16. Kerri showed no fear of being grounded, and no mercy, in trouncing her mom in three straight.
“We used to play each other a lot in local tournaments,” said Kerri, who has since limited her tournament play to pro stops and major USRA events. “It was a neat experience (facing her mom) for our family and friends who haven’t really got to see us play each other much before.”
Continuing a steady march up the rankings, Brenda Kyzer earned her first quarterfinal showing of the season by upsetting No.7 Kristen Walsh in straight games of 11-4, 11-8, 11-8. Jen Saunders made her second quarterfinal appearance this year by upsetting No.6 Susy Acosta. Rankings immediately following the event saw Kyzer secure the No.10 spot, and Saunders move, briefly, into No.11.
The draw then righted itself, for a short time, and the semifinal match-ups went to form. First up was No.2 Jackie Rice, who won the previous stop in Denver, against Wachtel. Bolstered with plenty of crowd support, Wachtel dominated the first two games 11-6, 11-5. But Rice managed to pull out a win in the third, 11-5, before Wachtel closed out the match, 11-6, for her spot in the finals.
Perennial top-seed Cheryl Gudinas was looking to earn a place in the finals for the sixth time this season and faced a hungry No.4 Rhonda Rajsich. Rajsich showed no signs of fatigue from her grueling five game quarterfinal match with Kim Russell, and surprised Gudinas by taking the first game 11-5. Gudinas then regrouped to take the next three, 11-5, 11-7, 11-3, for a chance to face her long-time friend in the finals.
In this playoff, Kerri seemed to have everything going for her. She consistently short-hopped Cheryl’s shots for winners and had few unforced errors. “At one point I just started laughing,” said Cheryl of Kerri’s unbelievable play. Kerri, the 2001 U.S. OPEN champ, won three straight, 11-4, 11-7, 11-9, for her second pro title.
“It was awesome,” Kerri said of her hometown win. “Besides the U.S. OPEN, this is the tournament that I wanted to win.”
by Jo Shattuck
& Ryan John[ drawsheet ]
Continuing to show improvement, No.7 Adrienne Fisher got past Lori-Jane Powell, 11-4, 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, to get into the quarters. Everyone should be on notice that, in a few short years, Adrienne will really be a force to be reckoned with on tour.
The quarterfinals played out just as they had two weeks prior, but the players advancing had a much harder time of it. Both No.3 Kerri Wachtel and No.4 Rhonda Rajsich each had to, ironically, survive 12-10 tiebreaks to advance into the semifinals. Against current 18- world junior champ Fisher, No.2 Jackie Rice had trouble getting started, finally closing out the first game 14-12, but then dropping the second 11-9. But experience became the key for Jackie, as she won the next two games easily, 11-3, 11-2.
Rhonda’s quarterfinal victory over Kersten Hallander must have taken its toll; she forfeited her next round semi against top ranked Cheryl Gudinas. In the bottom bracket, Kerri Wachtel and Jackie squared off for the second straight week, and this time it was Jackie who came out on top in three straight, but close, games, 16-14, 11-4, 12-10.
A final between Cheryl and Jackie is what fans have become accustomed to seeing over the past several years, but what happened this time not what fans were expecting. Cheryl totally dominated, giving Jackie a creamstick and two doughnuts, 11-1, 11-0, 11-0.
“I was serving really well and passing well on the left side,” Cheryl said of her match with Jackie. “She started to press more as the match went on, which led to her skipping more shots.”
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