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Randy Snow Memorial Ball
© Cecil Wise
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Women's Open Champions
© Cecil Wise
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By: Dick Yerg
Ronald Vink has done what a lot of tennis players would like to do, and he's done it with great success.
The 34-year-old native of the Netherlands was a first-time finalist in Men's Open of the 20th annual Florida Open International Wheelchair Tennis Championships at the Patch Reef Park Tennis Center in Boca Raton, FL. He made that appearance in the final a convincing one by beating Stefan Olsson of Sweden, 6-2, 6-1.
What Vink did was to quit his job as an insurance company administrator last September so he could focus his attention on tennis fulltime. It has paid off as he reached the final of a ll five tournaments in 2010 through the Florida Open in early April. He won the Melbourne Open in Australia and the Florida Open victory was his first-ever Super Series win as the Boca Raton event was elevated to the status of one of the five Super Series tournaments on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis calendar for this year. "I've been more focused since I quit my job," said Vink who has been among the top players for several years but always shy of reaching the highest level. He raised his ranking to sixth after the Florida Open and has been ranked as high as fifth. He came into the Florida Open as the No. 7 seed and scored a major upset when he beat 2009 Player of the Year, Maikel Scheffers, the No. 2 seed. Vink downed the fellow Netherlander 6-3, 6-3 .He then dispatched two-time Florida Open champ Robin Ammerlaan, the No. 3 seed, also from the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-1. "I was winning the big points," vink said of the win over fourth-seeded Olsson. "I tried to use slice and I was using the wind to get to his backhand." It was the first-ever Super Series final for the 22-year-old Olsson who has been on the wheelchair tennis tour for four years. "I didn't get my game up to my level and Ronald played very well. It was a combination of those two things."
The Quad Open division had a new winner in 25-year old Johan Andersson of Sweden. He ousted World No. 1 Peter Norfolk of Great Britain 6-4, 6-1, in the semifinals ending a 17-match winning streak of Norfolk's. Norfolk was the defending champion and a five-time Florida Open winner. David Wagner of Hillsboro, OR, is certainly Mr. Consistency. The World No. 2 was in his ninth Florida Open quad final in a row but was beaten by Andersson, 6-3, 6-4. Wagner won the Florida Open in 2003 and 2007.
"This was a great week for me," Andersson said. " Winning a Super Series is my second biggest thrill. I still have to rank winning the Paralympic silver medal in Beijing (2008) No. 1".
Andersson and Canada's Sarah Hunter combined to win the Quad Open doubles over defending champs Norfolk and Andrew Lapthorne of Great Britain, 6-4, 6-3.
The theme of the Friday night banquet was "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow," a memorial tribute to wheelchair tennis legend Randy Snow who died of a heart attack at age 50 last November while in El Salvador to conduct a clinic. Bruce and Verena Karr, the Florida Open tournament directors and founders of the National Wheelchair Sports Fund, announced that in Randy's memory an annual donation of $2,009 would be made to a country trying to develop a wheelchair tennis program. This year's donation is going to El Salvador.
The BBG Award, which is given to a person who has made significant contributions to wheelchair tennis and embodies the spirit of volunteerism, passion and commitment to making a differnennce in the lives of others was presented to veteran quad player Bryan Barten of Tucson, AZ. The 35-year-old Barten is the wheelchair tennis and quad rugby coach at the University of Arizona.
Florence Gravellier of France and Sharon Walraven of the Netherlands successfully defended the Women's Open doubles title. However, the Women's Open singles and Men's Open doubles finals were not played because of rain, a forecast of all-day rain the following day and the players' travel plans the Pensacola Open. The players split the prize money and ranking points. Defending champion Gravellier was scheduled for a finals rematch with 19-year-old lefty Aniek Van Koot of the Netherlands. Ironically they met the following Sunday in the Pensacola final with Van Koot winning. The same situation occurred in the Men's Open doubles when Florida Open finalists Ammerlaan and Stephane Houdet of France met Martin Legner of Austria and Satoshi Saida of Japan in the Pensacola final with Ammerlaan and Houdet the victors.
The Florida Open is also the USTA National Hardcourt Wheelchair Tennis championships. Letter division winners were Jeff Kegler, Whittier, NC (Men's A), Suzanne Egeler, Belmont, MII (Women's A), Danny Quintana, Salt Lake City (Men's B), and Dylan Baggett, Nacodoches, TX (Men's C).