Day One of the Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic in the books
Article By: Pedro Heizer
Photos By: Nicole Vickers
DELRAY BEACH, FL – Chris Evert’s 21st annual Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic got under way Saturday at the Delray Beach Tennis Center with Steve Doocy, co-host of the popular Fox & Friends morning show, and tennis Hall of Famer Gigi Fernandez defeating actresses Maeve Quinlan and Elisabeth Shue 6-1 in the day’s first match.
In one of the afternoons most entertaining matches, tennis great Sebastien Grosjean, and former American Idol winner David Cook making his Chris Evert Tournament debut, beat tennis legend, Martina Navratilova and teammate Jeffrey Donovan, star of one of the hit show Burn Notice, with the score of 6-4.
“Oh man, I had butterflies the entire time. This is probably one the most intimidating things I have ever had to do.” Cook said after the match.
Giving the 6-4 outcome, Cook wasn’t all bad “This was way harder than the American Idol finale that’s for sure. But they made it fun and easy. With all things considered I’ll take it, I have a lot of work to so before tomorrow though.”
The Cook vs. Donovan was the most entertaining match of the afternoon, but the most intense match had to be the last in which longtime Chris Evert rival Martina Navratilova, teaming with Alan Thick, from the show Growing Pains, got the best of Evert in a back and forth match that came down to a tie-breaker, a 6-5 victory over host Chris Evert and Olympic gold medalist, Dan Jansen.
In one of the day’s longer matches, Gavin Rossdale and Murphy Jensen spoiled Scott Foley’s return to the event, winning 8-7 in an extended pro-set. Rossdale and Jensen rolled out to a quick 5-2 lead over Foley and Vince Spadea, before Spadea rallied with some excellent groundstrokes to even the match at seven games all and send the match into a tiebreak eventually won by Rossdale and Jensen.
Play continues Sunday at 11 a.m. with five matches on the schedule. Tennis superstar, Anna Kournikova will join the field for Sunday’s matches.
The lineups for Sunday’s matches are as follows:
Match 1
Gigi Fernandez and Alan Thicke vs. Steve Doocy and Sebastien Grosjean
Match 2
Vince Spadea and Dan Jansen vs. Murphy Jensen and Stone Phillips
Match 3
Anna Kournikova and Gavin Rossdale vs. Chris Evert and Scott Foley
Match 4
Chris Evert and Jeffrey Donovan vs. Martina Navratilova and David Cook
Match 5
Martina Navratilova and Elisabeth Shue vs. Murphy Jensen and Jon Lovitz
Tickets are still available for Sunday’s great line-up of stars! You can buy your tickets at www.chrisevert.org.
