TENNIS: Settles win couples' tennis title

By JEFF ELLIOTT

The Times-Union

One of Paul Settles' last duties as director of player services for the ATP was to organize and coordinate the USTA National Husband & Wife Clay Court Championships held over the weekend at the ATP Tour facility in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Settles not only was credited with running a good tournament, but he also found time to combine with his wife, Kathy, to defend the title they captured in last year's inaugural event.

The Settles duo beat Tobias and Valerie Svantesson 7-5, 6-3 in Sunday's championship match to complete a successful three days of play in which they won all four of their matches in straight sets.

The Settles were pushed in the first set and had to battle back, saving a set point at 4-5 on Tobias Svantesson's serve. They broke his serve and went on to win the next two games for the set.

The team of Steve and Narelle Parkes won the consolation bracket, beating the husband-wife team of Danielle Wright and Rusty Pino, the latter of whom played at Jacksonville University.