Top Seeds Off To Strong Start

May-Treanor/Walsh, Metzger/Gibb advance without a loss

By Ed Letsinger

Misty May-Treanor and Stein Metzger both admit they and teammates Kerri Walsh and Jake Gibb are a little tired after playing in last week’s World Championships in Berlin, Germany, but that didn’t keep both top seeded teams from the men’s and women’s main draw from winning all of their games and matches to advance to the next round at the AVP Nissan Series Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Tennis Center.

May/Walsh advanced to Saturday’s semifinals by winning three matches in six straight games; defeating Daven Allison/Kimbely Coleman 21-15, 21-13 in the morning, Ashley Ivy/Ella Vakhidova 21-11, 21-16 in the afternoon and Semirames Marins/Tatiana Minello 21-15, 21-12 in the evening.

“I’m very satisfied so far,” said May of opening day play.  “We just got back (on Monday) from overseas and it takes a toll on you so sometimes you need an extra day to get back in the swing of things.”

May/Walsh have not lost a match since the 2004 Olympics and even single game losses have been few and far between for the powerhouse duo.

The Metzger/Gibb team won both of their matches, defeating Caleb Cook/Danny Cook 21-13, 21-11 and Scott Lane/Chad Mowrey 28-28, 21-14.  Lane/Mowrey gave the top seeds all they could handle, especially in first game marathon in which they were at one point a side out away from winning game one.

“To win in two games (in both matches) is about as good as you can expect,” said Metzger of the day’s play.  “There are a lot of dangerous teams out here and you really have to be on top of your game.”

Overall it was a good day for most of the top seeds in both the men’s and women’s brackets.  The biggest seeded upset in the women’s brackets was by No. 24 seed Ivy and Vakhidova, who defeated No. 8 Katie and Tracy Lindquist before losing to May-Treanor/Walsh.  In the men’s bracket, No. 23 seeded John Mayer/Sean Rooney defeated No. 10 Aaron Boss/Brian Lewis in the first round before falling to Dain Blanton/Kevin Wong.