Dow Corning Classic Wild Cards Named; No. 1 Georgia Tech Women's Team Upended by Northwestern
After having attended several Pro Circuit events in the past few years, I understand what makes the Dow Corning Tennis Classic, the only professional tennis event in Michigan, so highly regarded. Now in its 20th year, there is a tradition of community involvement, excellent attendance and a $11,400 first prize. This year Tracy Austin is making an appearance to promote Cardio Tennis, there is an international wine tasting, dueling pianos and much more. There's also tennis, and the main draw wild cards were announced yesterday, with Audra Cohen, Laura Granville, Jamie Hampton and Sesil Karatantcheva gaining entry into the 32 draw. Karatantcheva is the 18-year-old Bulgarian who was suspended for two years for testing positive for a banned substance, and since returning to the tour a few weeks ago has not lost a match, going 14-0, winning the $25,000 Surprise, Ariz. event as a qualifier and qualifying for this week's $25K La Quinta tournament, where she'll play in the final tomorrow.
Two of the participants in the Fed Cup tie between the U.S. and Germany, Ashley Harkleroad and Sabine Lisicki (who play each other on Sunday) will make the trip from the California sun to the Michigan snow for the Dow Corning. Harkleroad evened the Fed Cup at 1-1 today after Lisicki stunned Lindsay Davenport in straight sets.
Aside from Hampton, the only other junior in the draw is Anastasia Pivovarova, the 17-year-old Russian who won her fifth ITF Women's title in Tampa last month.
In the qualifying draw there are plenty of U.S. juniors, however. Julia Cohen, Allie Will, Kristy Frilling, Danielle Mills, Alexandra Cercone and Alexandra Riley are vying for main draw spots. For the complete qualifying draw, see the usta.com Pro Circuit page or the tournament's website, dowcorningtennisclassic.com.
There's been more college tennis than I've been able to keep up with this weekend, but the big news out of Atlanta tonight is the seventh-ranked Northwestern women's 6-1 win over top-ranked and NCAA champion Georgia Tech. Nusports.com has already posted the results.
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