Phil knew he'd have a battle in his quarter final match against Larry Loeb. In years past they had each won against each other. I know just how hard Phil has been working on his game, including his fitness, and there are few, if any of his peers that were doing what he was doing in preparation for the string of national tournaments this fall.
Phil won the first set 6-1, playing unbelievable tennis. Larry picked up his game and got an early break on Phil's serve. With Larry serving for the second set at 5-3, Phil noticed he pulled up lame on a shot. On the second point, Phil made Larry move a little more and Larry couldn't go for it. He then retired with a pulled groin. You never want to win because your opponent is injured, but part of doing well in these events is survival of the fittest. Now in his semi final match he will play Mark Peterson, a good player from Southern California.
In the doubles semis final yesterday, Phil and Neal lost to Tom Smith and Tony Dawson 7-6, 6-4. It made me feel good when Phil, who is his own harshest critic, said he played about as well as could have. Tom and Tony are a good team, and Phil and Neal just didn't have enough fire power to finish off points as needed. The other semi final losing doubles team opted to not play the playoff today for third and fourth. In most cases, the men see losing in the semis as being done...they are not playing for first place, so who cares. Not the women. They play until the bitter end, no matter what the round!
I'll be on pins and needles waiting to hear from Phil and how he does today.
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