Posted on: Friday, October 10, 2003

TENNIS BRIEFS
Lam earns first world rank points

Advertiser Staff

Honolulu's Chris Lam earned his first world rankings points last month when he reached the semifinals of the Ojai Futures event in California.

Futures is a U.S. Tennis Association Professional Circuit Event.

Lam won all four matches in the qualifying round. He defeated Australia's Adam Kennedy, ranked No. 247 in the world, in the main draw's Round of 16, 6-4, 6-4. Lam was defeated by Aleksander Vlaski, 6-2, 6-2, in the semifinals.

The four ATP points Lam earned give him a world ranking of 1,085.

Lam, a junior at UCLA, is No. 29 in the preseason college ranking.

Maatta, Lajola, Oda get berths

Hawai'i Pacific senior Mikael Maatta won singles and former University of Hawai'i player Malino Oda teamed with Iolani freshman Dennis Lajola to win doubles at last weekend's Futures Wild Card Tournament at Turtle Bay.

The champions receive a spot in the main draw of the $15,000 Men's Futures tournament, Nov. 8-16 at Ala Moana and Diamond Head. A second Futures event will be at Hilton Waikoloa Village, Nov. 17-23. That wild-card qualifier will be Nov. 14-16.

Maatta, a three-time All-American from Sweden, was seeded first at Turtle Bay. He beat seventh-seeded Bradley Erickson, from Waikoloa, in the final, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2. Erickson upset Oda, the second seed in singles, in the quarterfinals.

Lajola, ranked second nationally in Boys 14s, was seeded second in doubles with Oda. They defeated fourth-seeded Miguel Diaz and Jan Tribler, 6-2, 6-2, in the final. Diaz and Tribler upset top-seeded Maatta and Gabor Jaross in the semifinals.

50-plus program proves popular

More than 60 players participated in the "Welcome Back to Tennis" party this past Saturday at Kona's Old Airport courts on the Big Island.

The program is co-sponsored by AARP and the U.S. Tennis Association. Its focus is to re-introduce the sport to the 50-plus population and connect them to programs designed to provide regular exercise and fun.

Earlier this year, the USTA and AARP announced the pilot program and designated five U.S. cities as the first host sites, which included Honolulu.

The popularity of the Honolulu event in May inspired the Kona event, staffed by volunteers from the West Hawai'i District.

Porter begins USPTA term

Hawai'i's Dave Porter was installed as the new U.S. Professional Tennis Association national president last month at the 76th USPTA World Conference on Tennis.

Porter will serve two years. He is the head coach of the Brigham Young-Hawai'i men's and women's programs.

Porter was the 2003 USPTA College Coach of the Year. This spring he became the first coach in NCAA history (in any division) to win back-to-back men's and women's national titles.

Tom Daglis, a USPTA master professional and the USPTA's national vice president, will be the keynote speaker at the annual USPTA Hawai'i Division Convention Oct. 27-28 at Punahou.

For more information, contact Lee Couillard at 944-5835 or lcouillard@punahou.edu.