As has been the case virtually all season, the top four seeded ISDA teams convincingly played their way through today’s quarterfinal round of the $ 70,000 Kellner Cup pro doubles tournament, hosted by three mid-town Manhattan clubs, namely the Union, University and Racquet & Tennis Clubs. Only once this season have one of these top-four teams been defeated short of the semis, and that was when Scott Butcher and Willie Hosey out-played Preston Quick and John Russell way back in November at the Big Apple Open.

Russell and Quick were in complete control this time around against James Hewitt and Mark Chaloner, round of 16 winners in four games (two mid-match overtimes keying the outcome) Friday night against Tyler Millard and Ben Howell. Russell and Quick had similarly been pushed to four in their opener by Silver Racquets champs Michael Ferreira and Whitten Morris (who staved off six consecutive fourth-game match-balls-against to draw to 13-14 before Quick laced a forehand rail winner down an open right wall that barely eluded Morris’s diving attempt to retrieve it) but were never threatened against Hewitt (who absorbed the brunt of the Russell/Quick attack) and Chaloner in this afternoon’s action.

Neither were No. 1 seed Damien Mudge and Viktor Berg (threatened) by Matt Jenson and Willie Hosey, nor second seeds Paul Price and Ben Gould by Jeff Mulligan and Michael Pirnak. In the lone remaining quarter, Clive Leach (who won the ’03 Kellner Cup with Blair Horler) and Chris Walker dropped the opening game against Joe Pentland and Mark Price before righting themselves and proceeding through the rest of the four-game way. Pentland and Price were the only quarterfinalists who had play a fifth game in the round of 16, where in fact they needed to surmount a two-games-to-love deficit to overtake Steve Scharff and Arman Karim.

The semis will be played at the Union Club mid-day Sunday with the final scheduled for Monday evening at Racquet & Tennis.

Tournament Recap So Far

Rd of 16: Damien Mudge/Viktor Berg d Dent Wilkens/Tom Harrity, 3-0; Matt Jenson/Willie Hosey d Raj Nanda/Alex Langerhorst, 3-0; James Hewitt/Mark Chaloner d Tyler Millard/Ben Howell, 3-1; John Russell/Preston Quick d Michael Ferreira/Whitten Morris, 3-1; Chris Walker/Clive Leach d James Stout/Yasser Kamel, 3-0; Joe Pentland/Mark Price d Ayman Karim/Steve Scharff, 3-2; Michael Pirnak/Jeff Mulligan d Jonny Smith/Bernardo Samper, 3-1; Paul Price/Ben Gould d Eric Vlcek/Yvain Badan, 3-1.

Qtrs: Mudge/Berg d Jenson/Hosey, 3-0; Russell/Quick d Hewitt/Chaloner, 3-0; Walker/Leach d Pentland/M Price; P Price/Gould d Pirnak/Mulligan, 3-0.

 

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