U.S. Amateur Doubles
Racquet Club of Chicago
Winthrop/Cook def. Miron/Cipriano 6-5, 6-2, 5-6, 6-4
Recap by Steve Virgona
The Racquet Club of Chicago proudly hosted the U.S. Amateur Doubles Tournament from March 16 – 19, 2017.
The event coincided with the Rackets U.S. Amateur Singles and Doubles Tournaments.
By having all three events simultaneously, the size and depth of each draw was enhanced significantly. In order to provide guests and members with further opportunity to play tennis, the Racquet Club also hosted a Handicap Doubles Tournament.
The early rounds of the Amateur Doubles went according to seeding with the top 4 making it through to the semi-finals. They consisted of two fantastic, high-level matches played in front of a packed gallery during the cocktail party.
The first semi-final saw the #1 seeds, Ben Cook and Pat Winthrop, take on the #4 seeds from Philadelphia, Jon Crowell and Mike Noll. Both teams came out strongly forcing the ball and finding their targets. In the end, some slightly more consistent play and control of the service end helped Ben and Pat prevail in straight sets 6/3, 6/3.
The second semi-final matchup featured the #2 and #3 seeds. Will Hopton and James Coyne from England squared off against the New York pair of Lex Miron and Peter Cipriano. The steady, methodical play of the New York pair proved successful as they managed to win a close match 6/3-6/4.
The final pitted the aggressive net play of the Cook/Winthrop combination against the accurate and steady play of Miron/Cipriano. The match started well for Lex and Peter as they combined some tight serving, accurate forcing and good cut shots to jump out to a 5/3 lead. But, Ben and Pat saved multiple set points and clawed back to win the first set 6/5.
As with most finals, the first set can prove pivotal. With a renewed sense of aggression, Cook and Winthrop went on and won the second set convincingly 6/2.
The Miron/Cipriano combination then managed to produce their best tennis of the event in winning a tight 3rd set 6/5. Not wanting a 5th set Ben and Pat then raised their game to another level in jumping out to a 5/2 lead in the fourth set. That lead proved enough as after a fantastic three-hour battle, they then closed out the match 6/4.
The Handicap doubles was won by Trout Kinney and Chapin Lee who defeated Parker Pearson and Nick Eugenio in a well-played final 8/6.
Thank you to the Racquet Club and the Athletic Committee for their support, and to the Chef for the wonderful Tournament dinner and Sunday Brunch Buffett.
Also, a huge thanks to John Cashman and Conor Medlow for their help throughout the weekend.
