by John Lumley
We had nine teams descend upon The Racquet Club of Philadelphia for the 2023 Percy Cup. Washington 2 came out the blocks quickly, taking down the number 1 team on Philadelphia 1 8-2, but Haab & Scott tied up the match with an 8-4 win. Knox & Lago played some very steady Tennis putting Skaggs & Barr under pressure, and ended up taking the match 8-5 progressing Washington 2 to the next round. Philadelphia 2 vs. Chicago was up next, and we ended up having two matches go to 7 games-all! Green & Standish stayed steady to win 8-7 with some great rallies. Schellenberg & Tanfield were too solid for their opponents to guarantee the win for Philadelphia 2. New York 1 were keen to keep the title in their names and started strongly to take the win two matches to 1 over Tuxedo. New York 2 had a clean sweep against Washington 2, with the last match going the distance with an 8-7 win for Yaari & Diamond.
The consolation final saw Philadelphia 1 take on Tuxedo. Wetherill & Carroll found some form to take down McMorris & Alexandre in a battle 8-7 to give Philadelphia 1 the first rubber. Dave Christensen & Todd Yannuzzi played an excellent game to take down Haab & Scott 8-2 to tie up the match at one game all! Calliope Yannuzzi & Hazel Christensen were serving and playing fantastically, putting the pressure on Skaggs & Barr. In the end, Tuxedo prevailed and took the win 8-5 to give them 2-1 in the overall match. Very well played by both teams.
The Percy Cup finals featured a matchup between Philadelphia 2 and Newport. John Schellenberg & Richard Tanfield defended some excellent tennis from Sewall Hodges & Hunter Bolling, winning 6-5 6-4 to take the lead for Philadelphia. Kathy Minevitz & Chris Werner came back strong for Newport, taking the win against Bill Green & Baird Standish in a convincing 6-3 6-4 after being down 4-1 in the second set. The day’s final match was to be contested by Mark Windmill & Mike Gorsen of Philadelphia, taking on Eli Segal & Anders Cohen of Newport. The first set was dead even, with each team clawing their way to 4 games all until Segal & Cohen broke the deadlock and won it 6-4. Windmill & Gorsen came back determined in the second set, finding themselves up 5-3 in games, until Segal & Cohen drew it back level to 5 games all. Windmill & Gorsen dug deep and clawed out a 6-5 win in the second set. The third set was the closest set of the day, with neither team able to carve out a decisive advantage. At four games all in the third set, and after nearly 2 hours of doubles, Windmill & Gorsen proved the stronger team of the day, winning the set 6-4 and the match for Team Philadelphia, 2-1. Their fellow Philadelphians cheered from the Dedans and Galleries, and the trophies were presented to the finalists and winners by Steve Sader and Bill McLaughlin, who each said a few words to the teams at the end.
