by Mit Carothers – Aiken Tennis Chair
The Aiken Tennis Club was pleased to host the 2019 edition of the Wharton Cup. Players from New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Charleston joined local players to form a field of 12 players to compete for the title. First round winners included the experienced Matt Dupee over Frank Mullins, playing in his first tournament, and Mit Carothers over Martin Whitmer who was working his way back into the game after an absence. In very tough 3 set first round matches Claire Voegele defeated Tom Sargent and Adam Yaari defeated R.J. Tesi. Claire continued her winning form in the second round defeating Christian McCall in 3 close sets and Adam Haselkorn took advantage of his first round bye as the number 1 seed in moving past Adam Yaari in 3 sets. Chip Marvin made a very impressive singles tournament debut before losing 6-5, 6-5 to Matt Dupee. In a harbinger of things to come, Robert Glance defeated Mit Carothers 6-1, 6-2.
The back-draw saw Martin Whitmer back in form defeating Frank Mullins and R.J. Tesi getting past Tom Sargent. That win put Whitmer in the consolation semis where he defeated Chip Marvin in 3 sets and McCall doing the same versus Tesi. The consolation final on Sunday morning saw Christian McCall continue excellent form in ending Martin Whitmer’s run 6-2, 6-2 and claim the victory.
To reach the semifinals of the main draw, Robert Glance only dropped 4 games in 2 sets to Matt Dupee and Adam Haselkorn made the most of his opportunity versus Claire Voegele, winning in 2 sets 3 and 5. The final saw Haselkorn winning the first 3 games before we saw Glance quickly win the next 9 games in a row for a 6-3, 3-love lead and finish out the match and win the title 6-3, 6-4. I don’t think anyone was really surprised to see Robert dictate the outcome but I do think there were a few surprises in how dominating he was in winning 36 games and losing only 15 on his way to the championship.
In addition to the tradition of providing accommodations for out of town players, thanks to the efforts of club member Dan Mayfield, a Saturday night dinner was added to the affair with Robert and Cheryl Glance doing their usual best for an appreciative crowd of players and guests. Club pro Trey Bogue’s organization and marking.
