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Sunday, June 30, 2002

By Phil Axelrod, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The Pittsburgh Futures Tournament has different meanings for different folks.

For Paul Goldstein, who has sampled the big-time world of professional tennis, this is an opportunity for a paycheck and points to secure a spot in the U.S. Open.

For Matias Boeker, the top-ranked college player in the United State, it's a chance to challenge guys who make a living at tennis.

Goldstein and Boeker are two headliners in what promises to be a competitive field for the second $10,000 Pittsburgh Futures this week at the Mt. Lebanon Tennis Center. The main draw starts play Tuesday and concludes with the singles final Friday night.

Goldstein, 26, is a 5-foot-10, 140-pound clay-court specialist has a strong two-fisted backhand from the baseline and has competed at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. The highest-ranked player in the tournament, he has risen to No. 169 in the world since he helped Stanford win consecutive NCAA titles from 1995-98.

He needs to earn ATP points to move into the low 100s to guarantee a berth in the main draw at the U.S. Open.

Boecker, a native of Argentina and a junior at the University of Georgia, has played in few pro tournaments and is ranked in the 400s.

"He could be the best player in the tournament, but we don't know that because he still is playing college tennis," tournament director Don Mercer said. "We're getting some quality players, and that's an indication of even better things to come because quality players attract quality players."

Also in the field are Peter Clarke, Justin Bauer and Thomas Blake, a Harvard graduate whose brother, James, is one of the United States Davis Cup doubles players.

The seedings will be announced tomorrow night.

Many of the players who don't qualify for the Futures will stick around to play in the concurrent National Collegiate Clay Court/West Penn Championships.

The marquee names already entered in the clay courts will be Jonathan Stokke, a sophomore at Duke and the singles runner-up last year, and David Loewenthal, a junior at Wake Forest who is the 40th-ranked college player. 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 bracket will feature Lyndsay Shosho, an incoming freshman at Georgia Tech, Kristin Koenig, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina and Jackie Karleton, an incoming freshman at UCLA.

Marshall University's Anna Mitina, runner-up in the singles three years ago, will team with schoolmate Jessica Johnson (Sewickley) in the doubles.

Clay court change

The men's final of the West Penn/National Collegiate Clay Court Championships will be next Friday night instead of the traditional Sunday afternoon to avoid a repeat of what happened last year when two players defaulted.

Brett Warren, now a senior at Pine-Richland High School and the reigning WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA boys singles champion, was the central character in a bizarre scheduling development. He had never advanced beyond the second round in three previous appearances, so his family scheduled a vacation during the final days of the tournament.

But he made the semifinals when his opponent in the quarterfinals, Josef Fischer, defaulted to go to a Futures tournament Saturday in Peoria, Ill., the same day as the semifinals.

Moments after Fischer's default, Warren told the tournament committee that he, too, was going to default.

Warren's default moved sixth-seed Jonathan Stokke into the final against top-seed Mark Riddell, who emerged a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 winner.

"Brett assured me that vacation was not scheduled for this time of the year for the tournament," Mercer said. "He's back in my good graces."

Net results

Al Tomsic won the 35 singles title in the Washington Park Men's Senior Championships with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 final victory against John Rojohn. Chuck Taylor defeated Al Timko in the 45 singles final, 6-3, 7-5.