Van Baarle seals 11th Seniors singles world title
Belgium’s Klaartje van Baarle claimed the 11th ITF Seniors World Championships singles title of her career as she completed a dominant singles-doubles sweep of the Women’s 55 draw in Portugal.
Glenn Busby of Australia also added to his impressive trophy haul with victory in the Men’s 60 singles, the eighth singles title of his career alongside two doubles wins, while Great Britain’s Teresa Catlin doubled up in the Women’s 50 draws, winning her first world titles in both singles and doubles.
The 39th ITF Seniors World Individual Championships featured 582 players and 1080 matches, played across three age categories and 15 draws in Lisbon and Estoril.
And van Baarle won all nine of her matches in the Women’s 55 division without losing a set, dropping just seven games in five matches en route to the singles title, beating American Gayle Prejean 6-0 6-1 in the final.
In the doubles draw, the Belgian and her American partner Mart Dailey surged to the title in style, beating Germany’s Ulrike Lochner and Gabriella Precup of Greece 6-3 6-4 to seal the title, bringing van Baarle's total ITF Seniors world title count to 14.
Germany’s Christian Greuter claimed his first ITF Seniors world title in the Men’s 55 singles draw without dropping a set, though his opponent in the final, Ovidiu Petrescu of Romania, was forced to withdraw ahead of the match.
Busby’s victory in the Men’s 60 singles completed a return to form after wrapping up both the singles and doubles titles in the same age category in 2017. Opening with a resounding 6-0 6-1 victory over top seed and doubles partner Mark Vines, the Australian never looked back, reaching the final without dropping a set only for Austria’s Karl Pansy to hand him a walkover for the title.
Busby and Vines reached the doubles final as well, but were stopped in their tracks by Australian duo Michael Ford and Peter Hampton, the No.2 seeds claiming victiry in a match tiebreak, 4-6 7-6(5) [10-8].
Top seed Diane Barker came out on top of an all-American Women’s 60 singles final, beating compatriot and No.3 seed Susan Wright 6-2 6-3, her fourth ITF Seniors singles world crown. There was consolation for Wright in the doubles draw, partnering Brazil’s Patricia Medrado to a 6-3 7-5 win over Americans Robyn Harris and Carolyn Nichols.
Teresa Catlin faced a touher route to her first Seniors world titles, battling back from a set down against No.4 seed Simona Isidori en route to the Women’s 50 singles final, where she fended off a fightback from Norway’s Amy Jonsson-Raaholt before prevailing 6-0 6-7(4)6-2.
The Briton then partnered compatriot Siobhan Nicholson to victory in the doubles final, downing Ireland’s Lesley O’Halloran and Olga Shaposhnikova of Germany 6-4 6-4.
In the Men’s 50 category, Taras Beyko – uncle and former coach of Ukrainian starlet Marta Kostyuk – clinched his second Senior world singles title and first since 2013, again surging through the draw without dropping a set. The Canadian overcame Netherlands’ Hendrik-Jan Davids 7-5 6-2 to seal victory.
Home hopes were riding high until the last match of the Championships, as Portugal’s Joao Freitas and Paulo Travassos reached the Men’s 55 doubles final, but they were denied victory on home soil by American duo Polo Cowan and Daniel Grossman, who edged the match 7-6(5) 7-5.