Doubles champ Raymond in Big Island event
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Wimbledon doubles champion Lisa Raymond is on the preliminary commitment list for the Sanex WTA Tour Big Island Championships, Sept. 8-16 at Hilton Waikoloa Village. The inaugural tennis event offers $140,000 in prize money.
Organizers hope the dates will entice more top-ranked players to participate. The tournament is the week after the U.S. Open and week before the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo. The $625,000 Latin American Open, in Brazil, shares dates with Hawai'i. There are 64 Sanex WTA Tour events this year, in 33 countries.
Amy Frazier, ranked 21st in the world, is also on the early commitment list. Frazier reached the Round of 16 at the French Open and has won six WTA singles titles. Raymond, No. 31, has two singles titles, but is more known for doubles, where she has been No. 1 in the world. Now she is No. 2, with more than 20 titles, including Wimbledon and last year's Australian Open, both with Rennae Stubbs.
The Big Island Championships will have a 32-player singles field, and 16 doubles teams, with qualifying draws for both. Qualifying will be Sept. 8-9, followed by the main draw.
Hilton Waikoloa Village has been the site of the ATP Challenger Series for two years. American Andy Roddick won the event in January. Both tournaments are produced by Total Eclipse Sports.
Tickets to the Big Island Championships are expected to be on sale before the end of the month at Ticket Plus. For more information, visit tesports.com. For special room rates and tennis packages, contact Hilton Waikoloa Village at 886-1234 on the Big Island.
SHORT LOBS
• Mercedes Cup: French Open champion and top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten and No. 2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov reached the quarterfinals of the Mercedes Cup at Stuttgart, Germany, with straight-set victories yesterday.
Kuerten beat Spaniard Tommy Robredo, 6-1, 6-4, and Kafelnikov defeated Albert Costa, 6-4, 6-4.
Failing to advance were No. 3 Arnaud Clement of France and No. 4 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.
• Croatian Open: Top-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain beat countryman Emilio Benfele Alvarez, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, to advanced to the quarterfinals of the Croatian Open at Umag, Croatia.
Moya, the 1996 winner, will face Hungary's Attila Savolt in the quarterfinals. Savolt advanced when eighth-seeded Agustin Calleri of Argentina withdrew because of a back injury. Calleri led 6-3, 3-2.
• Energis Open: Third-seeded Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands defeated countryman Jan Siemerink, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the second round of the Energis Open at Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Unseeded Argentinian Juan Ignacio Chela, who beat top-seeded Sebastien Grosjean in the first round, reached round three with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Russian Nikola Davydenko.
• WTA Sanex Trophy: Belgium's Kim Clijsters beat Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of the WTA Sanex Trophy at Knokke-Heist, Belguim.
Fourth-seeded Angeles Montolio defeated German Marina Muller, 6-4, 6-2, while fifth-seeded Magul Serna of Spain won her match when German Barbara Schwartz defaulted because of stomach pains.
