Dardis and Shay battle in tiebreaker to win The Midwesterns

January 12, 2020
Cincinnati, OH

2020 Midwestern Women's Final Results (doc),  (pdf)

WOMEN
The weather gods tested the patience of players and tournament officials alike at The Midwesterns on January 10-12. On Friday it rained on and off, Saturday was warm with constant and/or torrential rains, and Sunday offered up perfect paddle weather, cloudy and high 30s (a mere 30 degrees lower than the previous day).

In the women’s draw, there was little suspense as the top eight seeds made it into the quarterfinals, and all but one of the higher-seeded teams survived. Alison Morgan and Charlotte Sikora (5), a new team this year with solid 2019-2020 results took out the powerful second seeds Laura Berndt and Roxy Enica, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Morgan/Sikora then had to face the perennial contenders Cynthia Dardis and Amy Shay (4) with their disciplined and gritty game. Dardis/Shay eased into the finals, 6-4, 6-3. In the other semi, tournament director Heather Prop and Wendy Shpiz (3) met former National Champions Annica Cooper and Florentina Hanisch (1). Cooper/Hanisch played solidly and aggressively, taking the match at 6-2, 6-3. Cooper/Hanisch had trouble finding their game in the first set but clawed back to win the second. The third set was back and forth, like the rainy weather that came in fits and starts. Dardis/Shay clinched The Midwesterns title in a tight tiebreaker, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6).

Thank you to Tournament Directors Heather Prop and Mark Kebe, Tour Director Jackie Cameron, Hyde Park Golf & Country club staff and members, Jay Gohman, his team of umpires, all the great hut commanders, and to Mark Fischl and Brad Easterbrook for their 14 hours of commentating on Live Streaming.

Finalists Annica Cooper/Florentina  Hanisch Chair Umpire Champions Amy Shay/Cynthia Dardis

Photos from Flickr album