May Fritz and Wright Seek Fourth Title in Five Years

In a women's 50 and over division semifinal doubles match featuring four former touring tennis professionals, top-seeded Kathy May Fritz of Rancho Santa Fe and Susan Wright of Grand Junction, CO, defeated third-seeded Terry Holladay of Encinitas and Ros Nideffer of Rancho Bernardo, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to advance to Friday's final of the USTA National Senior Women's Hard Court Championships at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.

After winning the first set, May Fritz, a former top ten player in the world, and Wright, who played on the pro tour for three years, scored an early break in the second set and took a 3-0 lead. However Nideffer, a two-time French Open doubles champion, held serve and the tide turned as she combined with Holladay, a former top ten player in the world, to win six straight games and capture the second set to tie the match at one set all.

Following an early exchange of service breaks, the third set remained on serve. Wright served to stay in the match at 4-5 and despite falling behind 0-30, went on to hold serve and tie the third set at 5-5. Nideffer, a two-time Wimbledon singles quarterfinalist, served the next game and fell behind and eventually faced a break point.

May Fritz and Wright secured the service break to take a 6-5 lead in the final set as Nideffer’s lob on break point sailed wide. Serving for the match at 6-5, May Fritz, who holds a career singles victory over Martina Navratilova, served out the game at love to seal the semifinal victory.

 “At the end we just pulled it out. We returned well and we broke Ros and then I served it out. We made some good shots at the end,” May Fritz said after the match. “It was very, very close. We were down 4-5, 0-30. They had chances, but we just hung in there. We got lucky somehow.”

 The top seeds will face fifth-seeded Wendie Mahan of Fullerton and Tracy Worley Hagen of Tusin in the women’s doubles final of the 50 and over division scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Friday.

 May Fritz and Wright, the defending champions, are attempting to win their fourth national hard court championship in the 50 and over division after winning it three times in the last four years. Together they captured the title in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

 “It’s an honor to get to the finals,” said May Fritz who played on the women’s professional tennis tour from 1974 to 1980. “I’ve played this tournament the last (few) years with Susan and we like playing together. Hopefully we’ll have a good match tomorrow (Friday).”