Just like last year, Mike Marino and Dane Schmidgall started the year with a win at the Milwaukee Open. This time things were not so easy but they ended with a win over Ben McKnight and Peter Rose in a close 3 sets battle. Finals scores were 5-7, 6-1, 6-4. After being down a break the entire third set, McKnight-Rose broke at 3-5 and Ben served 4-5 40-love in the third. The defending champs won five points in a row to take home yet another title.
In the semis McKnight-Rose spent more than two hours to beat John Noble and Mike Rahaley. Noble-Rahaley were coming from an upset in the quarters over Bancila-Berka. On the other hand, Marino-Schmidgall had a quick 6-1, 6-1 win over Barnes-O’Neill in their semifinal match.
What was new for Marino-Schimdgall? Dane played the backhand side while Mike played the deuce. Will they continue this way the rest of the season. We’ll see.
With only five Milwaukee guys in the draw and only one volunteer in the tournament, rumors heard in the hut mentioned the tourney being moved to Lake Forrest in 2013. It is too early to tell what will the APTA decide… or maybe those were only rumors.
Click HERE to acces the complete draw and results.
