Qualifying draw filled with college players.

Kristina is in her 2nd year at NC State University. If she wins her QR1 she will face a NC State team mate.
Leena is in her senior (4th) year at Princeton, the only one of the 4 in this section not at NC State. She has hit the pro circuit this summer, mostly in the W15 Monastir, with a 3-5 record in qualifying and 1 loss as a main draw wild card. She has however got a couple of doubles titles over the summer. Born in Hong Kong to a Canadian father and Indian mother, she has lived in Canada since age 6. She is a Type 1 diabetic. Leena Bennetto's Tennis Journey as a Type 1 Diabetic

A rare ITF appearance for Sofia. She is in her 4th and final year at Old Dominion university. She entered US college a year young, so only turned 20 in June. Although unranked because of her lack of pro tour appearances, she is ranked 37 on the US College ITA pre-season rankings and reached the Round of 16 in the 2nd most prestigious US College tournament for individuals play last month (and the SF of the back draw) and the Ro16 of the NCAAs, the most prestigious, in May. She's the top ranked player in her college conference, albeit a weak conference in which she is far and away the most talented. She can, and has, beaten top 20 college players. She said in the summer to local Norfolk, Virginia TV she wants to go pro and all this hard work is not just for juniors and college. Majoring in Business Management.

Lucie is in her 4th and final year at US College. She transferred to Ole Miss for her final year after 3 years at Charlotte where she had a 66-25 record. She is unranked in college tennis. Majoring in Psychology.

ETA: Added a couple of links that got lost when I copied it in here.

-- Edited by Lambda on Monday 28th of October 2024 07:33:01 AM

QR1:- Kristina Paskauskas (GBR) WR1083/1375 [Q9] def Leena Bennetto (CAN) UNR/1819 2-0 retired

QR1:- Sofia Johnson (GBR) UNR/354 def Lucie Petruzelova (CZE) WR1204/343 [Q13] 6-3 3-6 13-11

 

*****

 

FQR:- Kristina Paskauskas (GBR) WR1083/1375 [Q9] v Maddy Zampardo (USA) UNR/UNR/19yo

 

-- Edited by the addict on Monday 28th of October 2024 10:44:25 PM

I expected Sofia to win more comfortably than that. It's a little disappointing. But a wins a win and whether it's by 2 points or 2 bagels we'll take it. She'll need to do better if she's to progress though.

Kristina against her NC State team mate Maddy Z is the match I expected in the FQR. To provide some background for those that don't follow college tennis: Ignore the rankings for this one. Maddy is ahead of Kristina in the NC State playing order and big things are expected from her at NC State. Last season Maddy was solid as their No. 5 while Kristina was not in the regular 6 to play singles. Maddy, also in her 2nd year, is expected to move up to be NC State's No 2 this year in their inexperienced roster and some think she'll take the vacant position as their No. 1 left by our Millie but I think it's a year too early for that. I'm not sure where Kristina will be in the order this year; It could be any of 4, 5 or 6. I'll stop rambling now. The point is it'll be interesting to see how Kristina gets on, but as opposed to what the rankings suggest she'll be doing exceptionally well to get the win.

Kristina partnering with Mia is not their usual doubles teams. So far this season NC State have played Kristina with Jasmine Conway and Mia with Kristina's sister Gabia.

FQR:- Kristina Paskauskas (GBR) WR1083/1375 [Q9] def Maddy Zampardo (USA) UNR/UNR/19yo 2-6 6-0 10-3
FQR:- Sofia Johnson (GBR) UNR/354 lost to Kristina Novak (SLO) WR1068/24yo [7] 3-6 2-6

Kristina continues to impress with another excellent win against a former ranked college player. Guzman graduated from Oklahoma this summer, so these were her old home courts.
Its probably going to be top seed Fourlis next.

The Oklahoma Tennis Foundation are definitely out to annoy me. For the 2nd day running the live stream and live scores were not working for Kristina's match or for Sofia's match either yesterday.

Good grief Kristina

Missed this result

L16:- Valentina Ivanov (NZL) / Kristina Novak (SLO) CR1321 (741+580) def Kristina Paskauskas (GBR) / Mia Slama (USA) CR2402 (1490+912) 6-1 6-3