Day 2: USA def. South Africa (2-1)

The weather gods smiled on us today, bringing warmth and sunshine for our 10am start! The conditions were excellent for tennis!

We had an exciting day of matches today against South Africa. Renata started off play with a 7-5, 6-1 win, coming on real strong in the 2nd set. Vesna has a much closer match, winning 7-6, 7-6 and keeping us all on the edge of our seats. We thought we would have an advantage because one of the South African gals told us they don't have clay courts, but the ladies we played had great slice, quick hands and no qualms about coming to the net.

Rachel and I experienced that firsthand as we got throttled 6-0, 6-1 in doubles. The match was over before we even had a chance to get warmed up. Renata and Vesna kept telling us to try and stay in the points longer. I think we had one rally with a 5 shot exchange, the rest lasted about 3 shots before they knocked off a winner. Yikes! They were good!

The guys were playing Ireland on the court 18 right behind us, so we watched and cheered for them too! They swept Ireland 3-0. Mike and Andy cruised through their singles matches. Doug and Gil had an exciting 3 setter that probably lasted longer than both the guys singles matches!

Tomorrow we play Sweden (who South Africa beat 3-0), and the guys play India (who beat Ireland 2-1). It's the last of the round robin play and I think both USA teams have real good chances of advancing to defend our #3 and #6 seedings.

The only upset so far in the Young Cup (W40s) is that Spain beat Great Britain today 2-1 (7-6 in the 3rd in their doubles match), so it looks like Spain will advance (over GB who was seeded #4) from their group.

We expect to have Thursday off with the playoff rounds commencing on Friday.

In our free time, we have ventured off the grounds of the hotel to check out the local area. There are some small markets and shops and restaurants. It is very much a resort/beach town. In fact, our hotel is only about 350km from the beach and today I actually wandered out there with Renata and Rachel. We got some gelato to go with the view on the boardwalk. It is off season now, so not many people are around. The beach is a fine white sand and is very wide. The sea is a nice shade of blue!

Thursday we are hoping to rent a car so we can drive around and see some other towns and sites.

My favorite foods so far: 1) Serrano ham & tomato sandwich 2) sweet navel oranges 3) honeydew melon 4) fresh french rolls!

Wifi was down tonight, so this post is a little late getting online!