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Sunday, June 23, 2002

They came, they conquered the field and now they have moved up in the world of tennis.

That's the tale of Jaymon Crabbe and Brian Vahaly, the singles champion and runner-up last year in the inaugural $10,000 Pittsburgh Futures Tournament at the Mt. Lebanon Tennis Center.

They won't be here next week, when the tournament runs concurrently with the National Collegiate Clay Court/West Penn Championships. They're too good.

Vahaly qualified yesterday to play in the main draw at Wimbledon, which begins tomorrow. Crabbe's rise hasn't been quite as rapid, but he has reached the 200s.

"At least people here got to see them once," tournament director Don Mercer said. "They were ranked in the 800s when they played. It's incredible to get up to where they are today."

Vahaly, formerly of the University of Virginia, jumped to 197th in the world and a person to watch in Tennis Magazine following a recent victory against top-seed Michael Chang in a Challenger event at Tarzana, Calif. Vahaly lost in the final to Eric Taino, 6-2, 7-6.

"They're doing so well they won't be back," Mercer said. "I can't talk about this year's field because we haven't gotten the list of players who are coming."

Nick Monroe, a sophomore from the University of North Carolina, is coming because of a recommendation from Don Johnson, who grew up in Mt. Lebanon and currently is one of the premier doubles players in the world. Johnson sent an e-mail from England to Mercer, who used one of his wild cards to enter Monroe in the qualifier.

Mercer's other three wild cards went to Duquesne University -- sophomore David Brady, Jason Yee, a native of Mt. Lebanon and a graduate of Eastern Michigan, and his son, Tom, the pro at Oakmont Country Club.

There will be 64 qualifiers attempting to earn eight spots in the main draw. The qualifiers will be next Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The tournament is July 2-6.

"There's a great amount of interest among the college players to get into the Futures qualifiers," Mercer said. "A lot of those players are going to stick around and play in the clay court tournament. That's what I've been waiting for. This could be our strongest draw in the men's bracket probably ever because of the overflow from the Futures."

Mercer paused, then added, "What we've planned is working."

The clay court tournament will start July 2, with the men's singles final July 5 and the women's singles final July 6.

The men's singles will be played Friday night rather than the traditional Saturday afternoon to give the players an opportunity to get to the Futures qualifier in Peoria, Ill.

The Pittsburgh Futures is the second stop on the clay-court circuit sandwiched between tournaments at Buffalo and Peoria.

The collegiate tournament, like the Futures, also has had its recent share of success stories. The 1998 women's singles champion, Teryn Ashley of Stanford, has risen to No. 197 in the world rankings.

Although the field still hasn't been filled, there are several players who could contend for championships.

The men's side will feature two players from Wake Forest -- doubles partners Andrew Simpson and David Loewenthal, both juniors. Loewenthal played No. 1 singles, was ranked 40th in NCAA Division I and was selected to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference. Others to watch are Ohio State's No. 3 player, Sadhaf Pervez, and the University of Colorado's Zach Hood, who had the second-most wins this season in the Big 12 Conference.

The women's draw will have a strong local candidate in Jessica Johnson, the No. 1 singles player at Marshall, who was home-schooled in Sewickley.

Tournament sideshow

The Bijou Tennis Show, billed as the "Craziest Tennis Lesson in the World," will have half-hour performances at 2 and 6 p.m. July 5 and at 2 p.m. July 6. It's a three-person act, featuring a French clown who is a contortionist, a juggler and a user of two rackets while playing.