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Paraguayan also advances in tennis event

Sunday, November 12, 2000

By Maria Sciullo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Sandra Cacic has learned to love her profession, after all these years.

"Now I can honestly say I love playing tennis; I'm just happy to be on a tennis court," she said.

Sandra Cacic hits a return yesterday in her semifinal victory against Miroslava Vavrinec. (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette)

Currently ranked about 150th in the world, Cacic advanced to the PNC Women's Challenger tournament final with a 6-2, 6-3 upset of second seed Miroslava Vavrinec of Switzerland yesterday.

She will meet top-seeded Rosanna de los Rios of Paraguay, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 semifinal winner against No. 4 Marissa Irvin of Santa Monica, Calif., at the Oxford Athletics Club East in Monroeville.

At stake is $7,700 and a berth in the Gold Coast tournament in Australia next January. Second place is $4,200 out of $50,000 total prize money.

For Cacic, a Chicago native, the pursuit of tennis happiness was a long and sometimes rocky road. Ranked as high as 35th in the world in 1995-96, she dealt with chronic back and shoulder problems.

"When your ranking drops -- as in my case, to 280 -- you have to sit back and think about what you've got in life," she said.

It was "a humbling experience. But the second time around, I've learned a lot. When you have your priorities straight and have fun, it's amazing what you can do."

What she did on the court yesterday was a masterful combination of booming serves and mixing up shots.

Vavrinec was light on her feet but not fast enough. Although she broke Cacic's serve to open the match, Cacic won nine of the next 10 games.

"It's always tough when you get broken," Cacic said. "She's been known to get quite rattled on the tour."

But the match wasn't as easy as the score might indicate. Vavrinec survived four match points.

On the first, Vavrinec's backhand return popped neatly to Cacic, who came in to volley away the point. It hit nothing but net.

"I was up, I said, 'Why not go for it?' " said Cacic, 26.

Four match points later, she wasn't as forgiving: "All right, enough is enough."

Cacic clinched with a forehand winner.

In the other semifinal, Irvin broke de los Rios for a 1-0 lead in the final set, but dropped her own serve when, at 30-40, she backed off a shot that dropped behind her.

It was 4-2 for Irvin in the final set, but de los Rios continued to survive the long rallies and broke back for 4-all.

A crucial point came at 30-15 with de los Rios serving the ninth game. Irvin took control of the net but was passed on the backhand side when de los Rios' shot skipped against the top of the net and fell near the baseline. De los Rios took the game and a 5-4 lead one point later.

The match was clinched by de los Rios when she coolly stood her ground in a series of long rallies and, at 30-40, broke once again when Irvin netted a backhand.

NOTES -- Japan's Nana Miyagi and India's Nirupama Vaidyanathan advanced to the doubles final with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Kristy Blumberg of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., and Courtenay Chapman of Jackson, Miss. The top seeds will meet No. 2 Kristin Freye of Germany and Seda Noorlander of the Netherlands, who defeated Marion Maruska of Austria and Lenka Nemeckova of the Czech Republic, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (0). The singles final will be at 1 p.m. today, followed by doubles.