Saturday, July 27, 2002
Day of upsets sees 3 of 8 top seeds fall
Jinx still haunts local fathers, sons in clay-court tourney
By Dave Schutte
Enquirer contributor
Upsets marked the first day of the National Father and Son Clay Court Tournament at Cincinnati Tennis Club.
Three of the eight seeded teams, including No. 3 Zen and Jeff Guerry, lost, and the No. 1-seeded team of Jerrv and Brett Morse-Karzen escaped in a three-set second-round match.
All five Cincinnati teams lost in the first round and dropped into the consolation round. Devin and Ryan McCarthy and Tim and Tim Geraci won backdraw matches to remain in contention for a fifth-place finish.
No local team has won in the 28 years the club has hosted the event.
Quarterfinalists last year, Cincinnati's John D. and John Peckskamp lost to John and Carl Erikson in the first round and were eliminated by No. 6 Scott and Scott Estes 6-4, 6-3.
The biggest upset was turned in by Clayton and Trevor Taylor from Allenwood, N.J. The Taylors eliminated the Guerrys 7-6, 6-4 in a second-round match and play No. 5 Bob and Bart Scott at 9 a.m. today.
“This is our first national tournament,” 15-year-old Trevor Taylor said. “My dad loves to compete, and this is a vacation for us.”
The Taylors were down 5-3 and 0-40 with Trevor serving in the first set before turning the match around. Trevor held serve and the duo went on to win in a tiebreak.
“Trevor was ready to jump up and down after we won, like most 15-year-olds,” Clayton Taylor said. “I didn't know if I would play well because of shoulder surgery a year ago. I just started hitting two months ago.”
Six-time champions and No. 4-seeded Peter and Van VanLingen looked strong in their two wins.
“We played much better in the afternoon,” Van VanLingen said. “. . . Tennis is a game of inches.”
The VanLingens last won the Cincinnati tournament in 2000 but skipped last year due to an injury to Peter.
If a sportsmanship award was given for the first day, Rob and Bob Givone from New York would have been the easy winners.
Unlike most teams, the Givone's smiled, laughed and talked throughout their two matches, including a first round victory over Barry and Seth Mabe.
“This is our first national tournament and we want to have some fun and check out the golf courses,” Barry Givone said. “Bob played on the (professional) tour five years and is now completing his education at Columbia.”
Charles Hoeveler has won the clay-court championships three times with his older son, Charles, and is attempting to make it four with his younger son, Justin, a sophomore at Northwestern University.
Winners of two matches Friday, the Hoevelers play the Morse-Karzens today in the quarterfinals.
“Justin and I are growing together,” Charles Hoeveler said. “I stopped double-faulting in the second match, which turned it around. Also, Justin handled the pressure well.”
Action resumes today with the quarterfinal matches at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Both semifinals are at 1:30 p.m.
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