Stanley & Baglio Lift First Century Doubles Title;
Belknaps Pull Off Repeat
The 2024 U.S. Century Doubles Championships produced first-time Open champions Jeff Stanley & Carl Baglio, while Mary Belknap McKee & Berkeley Belknap and Steve Mandel & Randy Lim successfully defended their women’s and 60+ titles, respectively, January 19-21, in New York City.
The seventeenth iteration of the “Tournament of the Century”– requiring the combined age of each team to be one hundred years or greater–featured 150 players competing on seventy-five teams. The tournament was held at the University Club, Racquet & Tennis Club, New York Athletic Club, Union Club and Heights Casino.
View all results on the Century Doubles tournament page. Tournament photography courtesy of Beth Rasin is available on the US Squash Smugmug page.
The Century Open division got off to a dramatic start with both of the top two seeds exiting the main draw in their first match. Tim Brennan & Doug Lifford upset top seeds and three-time champions Thomas Harrity & Chris Walker in four games. In the bottom half of the draw Charlie Humber & Christopher Haley edged two seeds Ryan O’Connell & Harrison Mullin on a simultaneous match ball 15-14 in the fifth game. As a result, the draw then opened up for the three and four seeds who both progressed to the final where four seeds Stanley & Baglio defeated three seeds Mark Heather & Jeff Mulligan 15-12, 15-9, 15-12.
The top-seeded Belknap sisters successfully defended their women’s title without dropping a game, and clinched it against another Belknap sister, Lee, and Shirin Kaufman in the final, 15-9, 15-7, 15-4.
Professional doubles veterans Narelle Krizek & Ed Garno captured their maiden Mixed title without dropping a game, defeating Canadian three seeds Steve Millard & Nicole Garon in the final.
The Century Legends (60+) division saw another repeat champion in top-seeded Mandel & Lim. Mandel & Lim edged Imran Khan & Peter DeRose in the final 15-14, 14-10, 12-15, 15-10.
Sandy Tierney earned his fifth Century Doubles title–and first in the Century Masters (70+) division with first-time champion Ryan Mullaney. The top seeds earned the title without dropping a game and defeated Canadian two seeds Tim & Adrian Griffin in the final 15-9, 15-10, 15-11.
Doubles legend Leonard Bernheimer added another doubles national title to his historic record–and first at the Century Doubles. Bernheimer and former Trinity College player Kush Kumar earned the Century Grand Champions (80+) title with a 3-0 final win against Nicholas and Scott Griffin.
All
Back when I was a frisky 57 year old player, fellow UClub member, Kevin Jernigan asked me to partner up with him to play in the Century Doubles back in 2010. At the time, he was a vibrant 43 year-older; making our combined age to be precisely 100 - a compelling omen if there ever was one.
I agreed without any hesitation.
The chances of being crowned Champions were good and we played skillful squash with a few notable wins along the way…..until the Semi’s, when we met the formidable team of Ned Edwards and Rich Sheppard (Edwards being a former touring professional, and Sheppard being a former National Open Doubles co-Champion). We lost in a competitive 3 games - if there is such a thing.
John
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