Maria Sharapova did it in 2002. Maybe another rising young female tennis player will follow her path and make a name for herself this week.

Sharapova, then an unheralded 15-year-old, won seven matches in seven days to advance through the qualifying draw to reach her first professional final. Twenty months later she won Wimbledon.

There will be 32 hopefuls in the singles qualifiers that begin today for the Dick's Sporting Goods $50,000 Pittsburgh Challenger at the Oxford Athletic Club, Wexford. The tournament's main draw will start Tuesday and conclude with the championship Sunday.

Ashley Harkleroad won't be defending her title, but the runner-up from a year ago, Olga Puchkova of Russia, is back and will be among the favorites along with former Pittsburgh Pro Circuit champion Lilia Osterloh of Columbus, Ohio. The players with the highest international ranking are No. 95 Rosana de Los Rios of Paraguay and No. 97 Edina Gallovits of Romania. The top-ranked American is No. 116 Julia Ditty.

The Challenger is returning to Oxford North after one year at Club 4 Life in Monroeville and the main sponsor will be Dick's Sporting Goods, which will take over for PNC, the title sponsor since the tournament's inception nine years ago.

Tournament director Bob Ruzanic is hoping the switch to an October date from November will help the tournament generate more fan interest.

"We chose this week in October because we knew the Steelers had a bye [Oct. 12],'' he said. "The Penguins won't be playing and we knew the Pirates wouldn't be in the playoffs. Everything just fit in."

There are a number of players with district ties who received "wild cards" from Ruzanic to compete in the qualifier and the main draw.

Alison Riske, 18, who is being home-schooled in Peters Township, earned a spot in the qualifier.

The district "wild cards" into the qualifiers are Kristy Borza of Beaver, who set a Pitt record for career victories; Lauren Greco of Oakmont and Helena Van Eysendeyk, a native of France and junior at California University of Pa., who is ranked No. 4 in singles in Division II.

Michaela Kissell, a three-time PIAA Class AAA singles champion at Latrobe also is in the event.