By Brenda Sabbag
Newport hosted the Ladies Invitational on the weekend of April 12th. The tournament was well-attended with twenty players from the home club, Philadelphia and Boston. There were five round robin groups with the top two finishers from each group moving on to the main draw.
The first semifinal featured Philadelphia’s Melissa Purcell versus Newport’s Brenda Sabbag. Purcell played nearly flawlessly with great defense and speed, and the wily veteran Sabbag simply did not have enough weapons to counteract Purcell’s fantastic play. Purcell won the match 6-3, 6-3. Sara Lacombe, after a brief absence from the game, came back as sharp as ever and defeated Petra Napolitano in the second semifinal. Featuring great rallies and powerful shots, Sara played with accuracy and patience to defeat Petra 6-2, 6-4.
The quality of tennis was high in front of a good crowd. The three-set final featured terrific tennis. Lacombe took the first set 6-2. Purcell found her bearing in the second set and took the set 6-3. Purcell took a quick lead in the third and final set, going up 4-1. Lacombe dug in, played freely and aggressively, and took the next five games for the set and the match. The final score was 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Social events included an excellent Pot Luck at the club Friday night, and dinner at La Forge Saturday night. Thanks as always to Beth Winthrop for providing an excellent breakfast featuring blueberry cream cheese bread pudding. Thanks again to professionals Mike Gooding and Nick Howell for running the weekend event and ensuring that all participants played several matches. The tournament was sponsored by the Player Development Fund.
Melissa Purcell & Sara Lacombe
