For the 18 & Over 4.0 women, they didn't get any matches completed today so all the teams have only two matches complete. The men got five matches completed today leaving a bunch of teams having played just two matches. I wrote a few hours ago several ideas for how to finish the event, my preferred being to find a way to determine a top-8 equitably and have quarters, semis, and the final on Sunday, but the USTA appears to have elected to try to just finish the round-robin on Sunday and determine 1st thru 4th based on the standings with no semis or final.
Doing this does give all the teams an opportunity to get the four guaranteed matches they came to play, but I have concerns about the format as I fear some players/teams that lost early on Saturday and are 0-3 already made plans to leave and may default their matches on Sunday. Another 0-2 team may do the same. This can upset the competitive integrity of the event and when the champion will be determined from standings and not head to head play, that is an issue. We'll see how it plays out, but if some teams default or mail it in, the teams that care to play may effectively be those in my quarterfinals option and it has the benefit of deciding things head to head instead of based on who had an easier schedule and look the best in the standings.
The 18 & over 3.0 event was also in Arizona but somehow got more matches in but still has quite a few to go. The women have five teams that have finished round-robin, but 12 that haven't. The men have nine that are done but that leaves eight with a match still to play. I have not heard how they are going to finish. It may be more reasonable to squeeze in the remaining matches and still have semis and a final, but I'm not sure if they'll do that.
The 40 & Over 4.5 event has not had any drama that I'm aware of and they do have semi-finalists set. The women have three 4-0 teams in Hawaii, SoCal, and Mid-Atlantic, with New England joining them at 3-1 having beat out Texas by one court in the tie-breaker. For the men there were four 4-0 teams with Southern, NorCal, Florida, and SoCal advancing.
The 55 & Over 7.0 event was in Orlando. The women have Florida and PNW as 4-0 teams advancing with 3-1 teams Southern and MOValley beating out SoCal and Southwest on court record. The men have four 4-0 teams in SoCal, Texas, New England, and Southern. Southern made it by winning every match 2-1 and 8-4 on courts, and there were two 3-1 teams that were 9-3 on courts behind them.
We'll see how the Arizona events wrap up tomorrow!
Did you hear about what happened to the 4.0 women? Two teams defaulted at least 1 match on Sunday, so not every team was able to play their 4 round robin matches. They sent everyone home without announcing the because the USTA committee has to review the situation to determine who placed 1-4. So poorly handled it's not even funny.
ReplyDeleteThey made so cal ladies who are 4-0, 19-1 individual matches take two photos with first and second banner and still have not announced the winner. Saddest finish ever!
DeleteIn what scenario would 4-0 / 19-1 not be first? Baffling.
DeleteThe so cal ladies have a better record than the inter mountain men who got first but they still won’t crown them yet…
DeleteTop 4 finally announced. So cal, southwest, New England, pnw. New England got screwed by middle states default as southwest’s 3 2 win against middle states became a 5 0 win for southwest after middle states defaulted their last match. They should have stuck with a quarters and semis as your suggested to avoid this fiasco.
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