By Tom Groeschen
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bill Pendl, age 70, threw himself to the young lions again Friday at the Thomas E. Price Cincinnati Metropolitan Tennis Championship.

Pendl, the oldest man in the field, lost 6-0, 6-1 to Xavier junior Ryan Potts in a first-round Met match at Lunken Playfield. And Pendl loved every minute of it.

"I just like to play," said Pendl. "I've played with some of these kids' grandfathers."

Pendl, who lives in Terrace Park, is retired from IBM and now travels the world playing "Super Seniors" events. He has been a world top-10 ranked senior doubles player.

In a Met field of mostly teenagers and 20-somethings, Pendl's white hair naturally made him somewhat conspicuous. The next-oldest Met player this year was 61-year-old Tom Cocagne, who lost his opening match Thursday.

Pendl's opponent Friday, 21-year-old Milwaukee native Potts, admittedly wasn't sure how to proceed. Potts is in his physical prime and naturally was much quicker and faster than Pendl, who is a father of three and grandfather of six.

"You don't want to be the guy beating on the oldest man in the field, but you also don't want to lose," Potts said. "It was tougher mentally than anything."

Pendl is playing in his 37th consecutive Met. He was men's singles runner-up in 1967 and has won five Met doubles titles, the last in 1972. He will play doubles today.

OSSWALD RETURNS: No. 3 seed Josh Osswald, a former Walnut Hills High School star, is back in Cincinnati after working and playing tennis out of town in recent years. Osswald beat unseeded Mike Compton 6-2, 6-1 in his first Met match Friday night.

Osswald, 28, was Ohio Division I state runner-up in singles as a high school senior.

"And now Eric Thomas is breaking all my records," Osswald said, smiling.

Thomas won the 2003 Ohio Division I prep singles title in May and is seeded No. 8 in this year's Met.

Osswald's recent tennis saga includes coaching a junior girl at Wimbledon in 2002. Not long before that, he signed up to be a hitting partner in Florida for a fairly notable women's player - Martina Hingis.

"But then she got hurt," Osswald said. "The week after I got down there, they said she wasn't playing any more."

Osswald is a former national doubles champion in both the 16- and 18-under age groups.

ZIMMERMANN WINS: No. 2 seed Jason Zimmermann beat Brent Richardson 6-4, 6-3 in his first match Friday. Zimmermann, a Duke junior and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy graduate, was last year's men's singles runner-up to Rey Puentes. Puentes is playing only doubles in this year's Met.

NO. 1 DEBUT: Cedric Kauffmann, the No. 1 men's singles seed, plays his first Met match at 10 a.m. today vs. unseeded Matthew Orlet.

Kauffmann, a 27-year-old native of Paris, recently moved to Madeira. He was a three-time All-American at the University of Kentucky.

Kauffmann took Pete Sampras to five sets in the 2001 French Open and later said, "Everything was kind of blurry ... the stadium? Because I usually see (Sampras) on TV, I thought it was still a TV screen."

Kauffmann, who ended his competitive pro career in January, will become a teaching pro at Five Seasons Country Club in Northern Kentucky on Sept. 1.

WEEKEND UPDATE: Action resumes at 10 a.m. today with men's singles, women's doubles and men's doubles. Women's singles first-round matches begin at 10 a.m. Sunday, along with more men's singles and men's doubles.

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Email tgroeschen@enquirer.com

THOMAS E. PRICE CINCINNATI METROPOLITAN

At Lunken Playfield

Friday's Results

Men's singles

First Round

Jay Woffington d. Bobby Greene Jr. 6-1, 6-0; Brian Nester d. Noah Arenstin 6-1, 6-0; Doug Matthews d. Justin Stuckey, default; Chris Wartmann d. Joe Noth 6-1 6-1; Andy Bartish d. Graydon Sikes 6-0, 6-2; Kevin Teufel d. Pete Patterson Sr. 6-0, 6-0; Chris Pray d. Tony Kolodzik 6-3, 6-1; Dan Rinaldi d. Rafael Mendez 6-1, 6-1; James Crilley d. Roger Greene, default;

Matthew Orlet d. Todd Cooper Jr. 6-4, 6-4; David Caylor d. Jim McGoff 6-2, 7-5; Alan Pray d. Mark Schierenbeck 6-2, 6-4; Jon Burchfield d. Jeff Roman 6-3, 6-0; Scott Moreland d. Mike Reid 6-3, 6-3; Kevin Gaughan d. Wade Ward 6-4, 6-3; John McCollough d. Derek Dammann 6-0, 6-0; Aaron McDowell d. Mark Wasserman 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; J.R. Randall d. Derek Johnson 6-1, 6-2; Swamy Sunkara d. Patrick Rogers 6-2, 6-1; Dan Tscheiner Jr. d. Simeon Goodwin 7-5, 6-2; Bruce Connors d. Jason Arenstein 6-1, 7-5; Jonathan Khoury d. Darren Giuggio 6-2, 6-4.

Round of 64

Isaac Yarrell (4) d. Justin Cohen 6-2, 6-0; Mike Dektas (16) d. Michael Meier 6-3, 6-2; Josh Osswald (3) d. Mike Compton 6-2, 6-1; Rob Bakker (5) d. Chris Brock 6-0, 6-0; Matt Poulous (10) d. Derrick Davis 6-0, 6-1; Ryan McCarthy (7) d. Chris Compton 6-1, 6-2; Jason Zimmermann (2) d. Brent Richardson 6-4, 6-3; John Williams (14) d. Ben Richardson 6-2, 6-4; Warren Chamakoon (9) d. Steve Palmer 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.