"WOW...in all areas the 2010 Pensacola Open was a huge success!" exclaimed Tournament Chairman David Mayo. "We had absolutely perfect weather all week, witnessed amazing matches with several upsets, the food was plentiful and delicious, shuttles were everywhere...everyone seemed to have a great time".
Robin Ammerlaan and Aniek van Koot secured a Dutch double in the men's main draw and women's singles finals on Sunday to claim their first ever Pensacola Open Championships. And American top seed David Wagner returned to winning ways in the quad singles to capture his 5th Pensacola title.
World No. 5 van Koot stole the headlines in the women's singles as she claimed the first ITF 1 Series singles title of her career. The 3rd seed eased to her first career win over 2008 Champion Gravellier 63 61 in Saturday's semifinals. After van Koot beat world No. 4 Walraven for the first time in 12 career meetings last week to reach the Florida Open final, the 20-year-old Dutchwoman secured a repeat performance in dramatic circumstances for her latest success, coming within two points of a straight sets loss to eventually prevail 26 76(5) 62.
While there was an all-Dutch final in the women's singles, Ammerlaan and Ronald Vink ensured the same thing in the men's main draw singles, with a Dutch player again thwarting French hopes as Ammerlaan defeated defending champion and top seed Stephane Houdet 64 76(6) in an epic semifinal.
A week after winning his first Super Series final, Vink continued to perform above his 7th seeding as he beat 5th seed Martin Legner (AUT) 75 62 in the other semifinal to set up his second ITF 1 Series final of the season against Ammerlaan. However, Ammerlaan repeated his win over Vink in February's Sydney International decider, denying Vink back-to-back NEC Tour titles with a 75 62 victory.
A week after losing the Florida Open quad singles final to Sweden's Johan Andersson, world No. 2 Wagner cleared his path to the Pensacola Open title after ending Andersson's title defence in spectacular fashion in Saturday's semifinals 60 61. Meanwhile, 2nd seed Nick Taylor was stretched to three sets by 4th seed Sarah Hunter (CAN) in the other semifinal, but the American held on for a 76(3) 26 62 victory.
However, as in recent contests between Taylor and Wagner, Wagner showed that he seems to have the measure of his compatriot at the moment as he sealed another 60 61 victory in the finals.
In the Letter Divisions, David Williams (Sugar Hill, GA) regained his Pensacola Open title in the A div. defeating Russell Rodriguez 36 64 61. David Mayo (Pensacola, FL) defended his B title taking down an 'up and coming' Jeff Rush (Clearwater, FL) 26 63 62. In the C div., Victor Vaughn (Hardy, AR) also defended his crown with a 36 63 60 victory over John Frederic (Atlanta, GA). Talk of "sandbagging" will certainly increase if all 3 of these champions do not move up a division.
For complete results, click here. Player pictures from the 2010 Penasacola Open will be posted soon.
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