The 67th annual city of Fort Lauderdale Triple Crown Championships concluded with singles competition at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center at Holiday Park.
Consistency was rewarded during the competitions, as doubles, mixed doubles and singles tournament play took place over a three-month period.
In the men’s Triple Crown standings, Holiday Park teaching professional Michael Bianchi took first place overall with 103 points, followed by Tokuho Inoue (97) and Dave Smith (96).
In the women’s Triple Crown competition, Mami Inoue-Bugge didn’t compete in the women’s doubles competition but still managed to take the crown with a runner-up finish in the mixed doubles tournament and a first-place finish in the women’s open singles tournament.
Inoue-Bugge topped the field with 72 points, followed by Stacey Correcha-Price (66) and Christina Antimucci (65).
In the men’s singles open final, Fort Lauderdale native Matt Rock overcame a shaky start against the play of seasoned veteran Dave Smith. Down 0-3 in the first set, Rock managed to overcome his unforced errors and utilized his power game to take a straight-set 6-4, 6-2 victory.
“I was just trying to fight my way back in the match and cut back on my errors,” Rock said. “I just needed to find a way to get a rally going and start moving Dave [Smith] around. He can serve and volley well. I changed the pace and was more patient with some of my shots.”
Rock was a college player at Florida Gulf Coast University. At age 31, he had youth and power on his side, while Smith doubled him in age and attempted to utilize his experience by mixing up his shots and pace. On this occasion, youth was served once Rock got his game going.
“I was happy to find my game,” Rock said. “I only started getting back into tennis a month ago and really wanted to play this tournament. I’m hoping to play in a USTA Open here in a couple of months, but will need to get in better tennis shape. I’ll ratch up my training and that’s my goal.”
There were 43 players competing in seven singles divisions. There was plenty of action during the 156 sets that were played. Overall, there were 122 players competing in the Triple Crown tournaments.
In the men’s A singles competition, Thomas Poalos topped Gaurav Hingorani to take the title, while Matheus Silveira defeated David Stanton 6-2, 6-5 (retired) to capture the men’s B singles championship. In the men’s 50-64 singles competition,
Randy Goodman defeated Michael Bianchi in straight sets and Simona Lichvar claimed the women’s B division.
It was a family affair for Mami Inoue-Bugge and her father, Takuho Inoue, who won their respective championship matches. Inoue-Bugge played a patient baseline game and dominated Svetlana Carroll 6-1, 6-0 for the women’s open title. The two finalists engaged in a series of long baseline rallies that played into the strength of Inoue-Bugge’s game.
“I tried to keep hitting the ball deep and stay patient with Svetlana, who is a big hitter,” Inoue-Bugge said. “I played steady and waited on my chances to attack. We exchanged a lot of long rallies. There was a lot of running today.”
Inoue-Bugge and her family live in Victoria Park and are at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center almost every day. The former professional tennis player is more focused on training her 5-year-old son, Anthony.
“I take my son here just about every day,” she said. “This is my home court and with my son playing, we have three generations playing tennis. My dad and mom taught me how to play. I learned to play one point at time.”
In the men’s 65+ division, Takuho Inoue prevailed over Steve Mungalsingh to take the championship. At age 71, Takuho was effective in using a series of drops and spins on his shots.
Takuho first started playing at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center when he played in a world championship back in 2002. The native of Japan was a PE teacher and a former hockey player before discovering his passion for tennis.
“I like this atmosphere at Holiday Park,” Inoue said. “I play almost every day and night. When I’m not playing tennis, I’m going to the gym. I’m happy when I’m on the tennis courts and have a good time. I started playing tennis at age 25. I’ll keep playing as long as I can.”
