2022 Noll Cup
By an interested observer
The Racquet Club of Chicago was proud to host the 2022 Noll Cup in January. The draw comprised 19 players with visitors from Aiken, Washington, Boston, Charleston and the University of Georgia joining the local contingent vying for the title. The matches began on Thursday with many Chicago players winning through to the quarter finals. The first upset of the tournament saw the unseeded Andrew Peabody from Boston upset the Chicago #4 seed Eli Drake. Andrew started the match in strong fashion and with Eli returning from University to make the event, some rust was apparent as he wasn’t able to produce his best tennis.
Max Drake overcame Aiken’s Dan Villiers 6/2 6/3 and Brad Beatty prevailed over Philip Rooney 6/2 6/3. In his next round, Brad Beatty gave Jack Brown a stern test as, playing his best tennis to date, was narrowly defeated 6/5 6/5.
Moving forward through the remainder of Friday, two of the notable matches involved Nick Eugenio and Andrew Fritz, who both scored impressive victories over Fordy Gates and Chip Von Weise respectively.
Andrew defeated Fordy by the narrowest of margins, 6/5 in the 3rd set while Nick, spurred on by the crowd during the cocktail party, came back from match point down at 6/4 5/1 to stage a huge comeback and win 4/6 6/5 6/4.
The results on Saturday were somewhat surprising as the #1 & #2 seeds would be beaten.
In the first semi-final, the #3 seed Jack Brown improved his play steadily and defeated the #2 seed Greg Van Schaack 6/1 6/4.
Greg had earlier displayed magnificent shot-making and agility in defeating his younger opponent Nick Eugenio in the quarter-finals in 3 sets.
In the semi-final against Jack, Greg made some excellent returns but Jack’s quickness, fantastic retrieving and accuracy were the deciding factors.
The other semi-final saw Andrew Peabody from Boston upset the #1 seed Vaughan Massie from Aiken 6/1 6/2. With both players competing here on the court for the first time, Andrew seemed to read and adjust to the court a bit faster and although the score line seemed one sided many games went to deuce and could have gone the other way.
Andrew had earlier defeated Chicago’s Max Drake in the quarter-final by the same score, 6/1 6/2.
The gallery was packed throughout the day and the crowd was suitably impressed by the display of tennis.
The crowd was eagerly anticipating the final as both players seemed on form and at the top of their game. Andrew came out of the blocks quickly, dominating the service end and ran away with the first set, the score 6/0. Jack slowly worked his way into the match and jumped out to a 3/0 lead with methodical, accurate play. The 4/2 game was pivotal as both players had numerous chances to win it but were unable to convert them. Jack was the one to convert and moved to a 5/2 lead which proved important as he then secured the set 6/3. The third and final set was tight all the way with many close games. At four games all in the third set and the match in the balance Andrew managed to save a game point and win his own to stake a 5/4 lead. Starting the next game at the service end he rattled off a few quick points with some great serving and won the game and the tournament 6/0 3/6 6/4.
The Consolation tournament was won by Chicago’s Eli Drake over Aiken’s Dan Villiers in a thrilling match, 8/7.
Thanks to Racquet Club General Manager Richard Duggan, tournament Chairman Jonathan Lewis, Head Chef Mike Coronel for his excellent meals throughout the weekend and also to John Cashman, Steve Virgona and Conor Medlow for marking the event.
