Friday, September 12, 2003

Local pro tennis tourney continues

Quarterfinal play is set for today in the Goody Products USTA Women's Pro Championships, a $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event at the Peachtree City Tennis Center.

Semifinals in singles and doubles are scheduled for Saturday, with the singles final Sunday at 1 p.m. The doubles final will immediately follow.

While nearly all of the players are relatively unheard of as far as women's tennis goes, that usually does not remain so for long. Last year's winner, Maria Sharapova of Russia, reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon this year and won matches at the French Open and U.S. Open.

The top seed in this year's event, Kristina Brandi of Puerto Rico, is ranked xxth in the world, having made one of the biggest jumps in the rankings in recent months. She is being profiled in an upcoming issue of Tennis magazine.

Two other players in the tournament, Amber Liu and Vilmarie Castellvi, are the top two singles players in this past year's NCAA championships. Liu, of Stanford, won the title as a freshman and is playing in the Peachtree City tournament as an amateur. Castellvi, the runnerup, was a senior at the University of Tennessee and is now a pro.

Two Georgians remain in the draw: Tanner Cochran of Dublin, and Kristen Schlukebir of Atlanta. They were both scheduled to play second-round singles matches Thursday, and they have paired up for doubles, with a quarterfinal match set for today.

Players in this year's tournament hail from Bulgaria, Romania, South Africa, Japan, Korea, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, among other places.

Quarterfinal play begins today at 10 a.m.

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