Tournament Notes
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TOURNAMENT NOTES as of May 29, 2014 $25K HUNT COMPANIES WOMEN’S PRO TENNIS CLASSIC EL PASO, TX • JUNE 1–8 USTA PRO CIRCUIT WOMEN’S TENNIS RETURNS TO EL PASO TOURNAMENT INFORMATION The $25K Hunt Companies Women’s Pro Tennis Classic returns to El Paso, Texas, for the 19th consecutive year. The tournament Hartis Tim Site: Tennis West Sports & Racquet Club is the last of three consecutive hard-court El Paso, Texas USTA Pro Circuit women’s events held this Websites: www.tennis-west.com spring at the $10,000 or $25,000 prize- procircuit.usta.com money levels. It is also one of four USTA Pro Circuit women’s events held in Texas this Facebook: Tennis West Sports and Racquet Club year, as back-to-back $10,000 hard-court Qualifying Draw Begins: Sunday, June 1 events will be held in Austin and Fort Worth in July and a $50,000 event will be held in Main Draw Begins: Tuesday, June 3 New Braunfels in November. Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles Notable players competing in the main draw Surface: Hard / Outdoors include: Prize Money: $25,000 2012 singles runner-up and doubles Tournament Director: champion Ashley Weinhold, the top-ranked Ashley Weinhold, the top-ranked American in Ross Walker, (915) 799-6996 American in El Paso, who is now in her El Paso, won the doubles title and reached the [email protected] seventh year on the pro tour. In late 2013, singles final here in 2012. Weinhold won the third ITF/USTA Pro Circuit Tournament Press Contact: singles title of her career at an ITF Circuit Henrik Niederleig, (915) 581-5471 event in Mexico. She also won her ninth of North Carolina, leading the Tar Heels [email protected] ITF/USTA Pro Circuit doubles title in 2013. to their first NCAA team final. Loeb was the top-ranked college tennis player for USTA Public Relations Contact: Weinhold broke into the Top 200 in the most of the year and was named the Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219 world in 2011. She won the USTA Girls’ 2014 ACC Women’s Tennis Player of the [email protected] 18 National Championships in 2007 and received a wild card into the main draw of Year—the third North Carolina player to the US Open that year, where she lost to ever earn that achievement—as well as PRIZE MONEY / POINTS then-world No. 4 Anna Chakvetadze. ITA Rookie Player of the Year. Loeb also was a standout junior player, reaching the SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points quarterfinals of the Wimbledon girls’ event Winner $3,919 50 Jamie Loeb, who recently completed her freshman season for the University in 2013, losing to eventual champion Runner-Up $2,091 30 Belinda Bencic. Loeb also reached the Semifinalist $1,114 18 girls’ singles final and won the doubles title Quarterfinalist $654 9 at the 2013 USTA International Spring Round 16 $392 5 Championships in Carson, Calif. Loeb won Round 32 $228 1 17 consecutive singles matches in the DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) David Kenas summer of 2012, winning junior titles at the Winner $1,437 USTA International Hard Courts in College Runner-Up $719 Park, Md., the International Grass Court Semifinalist $359 Championships in Philadelphia and an ITF Quarterfinalist $196 event in Delray Beach, Fla. She holds three Round 16 $131 USTA Pro Circuit singles titles and trains at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in Randalls Island, N.Y. Jamie Loeb recently completed her freshman season at the University of North Carolina and was the top-ranked college tennis player for most of the year. She was the 2014 ACC Women’s Tennis Player of the Year and the ITA Rookie Player of the Year. *Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES Alexandra Stevenson, 33, who first made waves in pro tennis in Easter Bowl. Austin won her only USTA Pro Circuit doubles title at 1999, when she became the first female qualifier in Wimbledon history the $10,000 event in Cleveland in 2011. She recently committed to to reach the semifinals. She was ranked in the year-end Top 100 each playing for the University of Florida in the fall. year from 1999 to 2003, peaking at No. 18 in 2002. Injuries disrupted her progress and her ranking dropped into the 600s in Peggy Porter, 18, who in 2013 won the US Open National Playoffs 2005. Stevenson rebounded to climb back into the Top 200 in Texas Sectional Qualifying Tournament for the second consecutive 2009, advancing to the final at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit year. Porter has committed to the University of Florida for the event in Carson, Calif., for her best result on the USTA Pro Circuit coming school year. She has been coached by Jarmila Gajdosova, since 1998. Stevenson is the daughter of basketball hall-of-famer who won the 2013 Australian Open mixed doubles title. A Julius Erving. standout junior player, Porter won the 2013 Easter Bowl doubles championship. She played in her first junior Grand Slam tournament 2011 El Paso singles and doubles champion Chiara Scholl, who at the 2011 US Open and, in 2013, reached the second round of goes by the nickname “Chi Chi.” Scholl won her first USTA Pro the girls’ singles event in New York. Also in 2013, Porter won her Circuit singles titles in 2011 here in El Paso and at the $50,000 first USTA Pro Circuit title by capturing the doubles championship at event in Lexington, Ky. Those results jump-started her career, and the $10,000 clay-court event in Bethany Beach, Del. she rose to No. 164 in the world in singles in October 2011. In 2012, Scholl played in qualifying at the Australian Open, French Open and US Open, and she also reached the semifinals of two USTA Pro Circuit events at the levels of $50,000 and above. This Two WTA standouts have competed in El Paso. year, Scholl has reached the quarterfinals or better in two USTA Pro Circuit doubles events. 2010 singles champion Coco Vandeweghe had a strong summer in 2013 playing in the Emirates Airline US Open Series and the US Danielle Lao, who graduated from USC last year and earned two Open. She qualified for the Series events in Stanford and Carlsbad, All-America honors. She also led the Trojans to back-to-back PAC-12 reaching the second round of both, and then qualified for and team championships and was team captain her senior year. After reached the second round of the US Open. Following the 2013 US college, Lao wrote a book, “Invaluable Experience,” about playing Open, Vandeweghe reached the singles final at the $50,000 USTA college tennis. She won the first USTA Pro Circuit title of her career Pro Circuit event in Las Vegas. Vandeweghe reached her first WTA this year in doubles at the $25,000 event in Pelham, Ala. She also final in 2012 at the US Open Series event in Stanford as a qualifier, advanced to two additional doubles finals. losing to Serena Williams. She broke into the Top 100 for the first time in her career in early 2011 after qualifying for the Australian Denise Muresan, who played for the University of Michigan, where Open and reaching the quarterfinals of the WTA event in Memphis, she ranks third in all-time winning percentage while at the school Tenn. This year, Vandeweghe reached the fourth round of the WTA (.707) and was a three-time All-American. She also was Big Ten tournament in Miami as a qualifier, losing again to Williams, but Player of the Year in 2010 and 2011. Muresan won her first pro title upsetting two seeds en route. Vandeweghe was named to the U.S. last year at an ITF Circuit event in Mexico. She also holds two ITF Fed Cup team for the 2010 final against Italy and, as a junior player, Circuit doubles titles. won the 2008 US Open girls’ singles title. Brooke Austin, 18, who won the first USTA Pro Circuit singles title of 1998 El Paso singles champion Elena Bovina of Russia peaked at her career at the $10,000 event in Sumter, S.C., this May. Austin is No. 14 in the world in 2005. She reached the quarterfinals of the a former junior standout who won the 2012 USTA Girls’ 18 Spring 2002 US Open for her career breakthrough and reached the fourth National Championships and helped lead the United States to back- round of the 2003 Australian Open and the 2005 French Open. to-back World Junior Tennis titles (14-and-under team competition) She captured three WTA singles titles and five doubles titles. She in 2009 and 2010. She reached the final of the 2012 Easter Bowl, also won the mixed doubles title at the 2004 Australian Open with losing to year-end junior No. 1 Taylor Townsend in the final, and, last Nenad Zimonjic. year, reached the singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals at the *Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES EL PASO PAST WINNERS Singles Doubles Year Winner Runner-Up Year Winner 2013 Sanaz Marand (USA) Naomi Osaka (JPN) 2013 Adriana Perez (VEN) – Marcela Zacarias (MEX) 2012 Marie-Eve Pelletier (CAN) Ashley Weinhold (USA) 2012 Ashley Weinhold (USA) – Sanaz Marand (USA) 2011 Chichi Scholl (USA) Petra Rampre (SLO) 2011 Chichi Scholl (USA) – Alyona Sotnikova (UKR) 2010 Coco Vandeweghe (USA) Ryoko Fuda (JPN) 2010 Angela Haynes (USA) – Ahsha Rolle (USA) 2009 Valerie Tetreault (CAN) Mashona Washington (USA) 2009 Christina Fusano (USA) – Shikha Uberoi (IND) 2008 Anna Tatishvili (GEO) Lauren Albanese (USA) 2008 Lauren Albanese (USA) – Surina De Beer (RSA) 2007 Gabriela Paz (VEN) Helena Besovic (BIH) 2007 Helena Besovic (BIH) – Nina Munch-Soegaard (NOR) 2006 Nina Pantic (CAN) Yasmin Clarke (GBR) 2006 Christina Fusano (USA) – Beau Jones (USA) 2005 Anda Perianu (ROU) Raquel Kops-Jones (USA) 2005 Beau Jones (USA) – Anda Perianu (ROU) 2004 Cindy Watson (AUS) Angela Haynes (USA) 2004 Beau Jones (USA) – Anne Mall (IRL) 2003 Milangela Morales (USA) Angela Haynes (USA) 2003 Beau Jones