Northern California had tennis fever this past week as they played host to both a Men’s and Women’s Pro Circuit event. The women’s tournament took place at Golden Gateway Tennis & Swim in San Francisco. The San Francisco Tennis Classic is in its inaugural year and is the 38th USTA Pro Circuit women’s event of 2005. The men’s event was held in Sacramento, CA at the Sutterlawn Swim and Tennis Club. The $50,000 Swanston Challenger sponsored by Morgan Stanley is the 17th USTA Pro Circuit men’s challenger of 2005 and it is also celebrating its inaugural year.
Southern women included Lindsay Lee-Waters (Dunwoody, GA ), Julie Ditty(Ashland, KY), Ansley Cargill (Atlanta, GA), and Cory-Ann Avants (Gastonia, NC). Ansley Cargill progressed to the quarterfinals where she lost to fellow American Vania King. In doubles Cargill and her partner Tara Snyder (Wichita, KS), upset the field beating the second-seeded team of Angela Haynes (Irvine, CA ) and Francesca (Lubiani,Italy) in two sets 7-6(2), 7-5 to win the tournament. This is the second consectutive tournament in which a USTA Southern Section woman has claimed a doubles title on the USTA Pro Circuit Tour.
In Sacramento Bobby Reynolds (Acworth, GA) and Scoville Jenkins (Atlanta, GA) paired up in doubles and had a successful run before ultimately falling to John Paul Fruttero and Mirko Pehar, both of the United States, in the semifinals. Also competing in the event were Southern natives Brian Baker (Nashville, TN) and Brian Vahaly (Atlanta, GA). Vahaly had the best finish in the men’s single draw, making it to the quarterfinals when he was beaten by Rik De Voest of Russia.