Local Women compete in USA Senior National Championship tennis
The USA senior national championships were held the past two weeks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sylvia Williams (Cherry Creek) won the national championship in tennis in Albuquerque New Mexico in 2019 in the 70-74 year old age group and is representing Idaho and Utah this year in the 75-79 group. The Senior Games National Championships are normally held every other year, but because of COVID they were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 so this year is back to back.
Sylvia's daughter, Marrianne Squires from Lehi, Utah attended with her. Marianne won the Gold medal in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in tennis in 2022 in the 50-54 age group and was defending her championship in the same division. Marianne and Sylvia were also playing doubles together in the 50 - 54 age group, the only mother - daughter team in the tournament, which required Sylvia to play in the younger age group. Both Sylvia and Marianne played very well in doubles but lost their 2nd match to the team from New Hampshire that went on to win the gold. Marianne and Sylvia went on to win their two matches and win 5th place.
Sylvia in her singles matches, in the second round she played the number one seed (the eventual champion from Brattleboro, Vermont) and lost to her and fell back into the consolation bracket where she won against her last two opponents and won the bronze medal and 3rd place nationally. It was a marathon match of over 3 hours and ended in a 10 point tie-breaker that was very close as the lead changed back and forth many times. Sylvia was down 7 - 9 and came back and won 5 of the next 6 points for a 12 - 10 victory.
DelMar Williams, husband and father, attended with them and was their biggest fan!