Italians Keep The Crown At 2008 National BTUSA Championship
Mingozzi and Marighella Defeat Henderson and Whitesell To Cap Fourth Season For Beach Tennis USA
Beach Tennis USA concluded its 10-city, national tour this weekend (Aug 30-31) at the 2008 National Beach Tennis Championship in Long Beach, New York. Top Pro Division teams from a dozen countries competed for $15,000 in cash prizes at the two-day event, which was taped for national broadcast.
In the Men’s Pro division, Alex Mingozzi and Matteo Marighella (Italy), who dominated last year’s National Championship, defeated former two-time champs Phil Whitesell and Chris Henderson (Charleston, SC) 8-4. Whitesell and Henderson showed early signs of potentially upsetting the Italians, who are still undefeated on American sand, winning three of the match’s first six games. But in the end, the Italians grabbed control, taking five of the last six games to collect their second national championship in as many years.
In the Women’s Pro Division, the Maloney Sisters—Laura and Lisa (San Diego, CA), defeated three-time national champion Nadia Johnston (Long Beach, NY) and her partner Elena Jirnova (Ukraine) in a dramatic 9-8 victory, which ended in a tiebreaker. With Johnston sitting out most of this 2008 National Tour with nagging injuries, the Maloney Sisters ran wild, dominating the Women Pro division, sitting firmly in the number-one ranked position all season.
In this year’s newly-formed Mixed Doubles Pro division, Donny “The Golden Bullet” Young (Hermosa Beach, CA) and Laura Maloney defeated Team Rhino’s Mike Edison (Clearwater, FL) and former Wimbledon competitor Gretchen Magers (San Diego, CA) 8-2.
Both the Men’s and Women’s Pro division finals were taped for broadcast later this month on Tennis Channel, Comcast SportsNet, FSN West, SunSports, and SportsNet New York (SNY).
We’d like to thank our sponsors, HEAD/Penn, Function Beverages, Joseph Christopher Salon, Dover Caterers, and Sutton Place for all their support.
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