The USTA Florida NTRP 50 & Over National Qualifier was held on the grounds of the USTA National Campus Feb. 22-23. Qualified winners are now eligible to advance to the 2021 NTRP 50 & Over National Championships next spring.

The event featured players competing in the following singles divisions – men’s 3.5, men’s 4.0, and women’s 4.0. For both 4.0 competitions players were placed into the Red or White draw, with the winner of each draw squaring off in Sunday’s divisional championship match. All draws played out in the round-robin format.

Each match utilized no-ad scoring and was the best-of-three short sets to four games with a tiebreak at 3-3; the tiebreak format was the first to five points with a sudden-death point at 4-4.

Matthew Kerr (Melbourne) dominated the field in the men's 3.5 competition, dropping just six games in his five matches. Overall, he won six sets by a 4-0 margin, including two contests in which he did not surrender a single game.

Volker Mai (Gainesville) was extened to a third set twice in the White draw of the men's 4.0 division, but managed to prevail in both of those encounters en route to going undefeated. That advanced him to the divisional final, where turned in a comprehensive 4-1, 4-1 effort against William Demetriades (Winter Park).

In the lone women's division of the event, Valerie de Crecy (Gainesville) emerged from the White draw unscathed for the right to play for the title. There she matched up with Debbie Dawson (Tampa), coming through with her best performance on the weekend in a 4-0, 4-1 victory.

Divisional Champions

Men’s 3.5 – Matthew Kerr (Melbourne)

Men’s 4.0 – Volker Mai (Gainesville)

Women’s 4.0 – Valerie de Crecy (Gainesville)

The National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) is the official system for determining the levels of competition for the USTA League tennis program. The USTA NTRP Computer Rating System assigns ratings based on play in the local league and at the championship level during the current league year.

For complete results from the USTA Florida NTRP 50 & Over National Qualifier, click here.