Sunday, November 02, 2003

By Maria Sciullo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

For many of the world's up-and-coming professional ladies tennis players, a road map to success winds from Siberia to Acapulco, from Budapest to Casablanca.

This week it happens to run through Pittsburgh.

The fourth PNC International Tennis Classic began with qualifying rounds yesterday and runs through next Sunday at the Oxford Athletic Club in Wexford. It is one of the year's final stops on the USTA Pro Circuit, a $50,000 event worth more than $7,700 to the winner. It also carries points toward WTA rankings and a wild card into a qualifying tournament for the Australian Open.

"We have one of the strongest draws in the country," tournament director Patty Ware said. "There are $75,000 events that don't get the players we do."

Tournaments at this level feature rising stars, teen and college-age players typically ranked outside the world top 50, players not ready to handle the likes of Serena Williams but certainly capable of putting up a good match on a given day to lower seeds in a Grand Slam event.

Last year, Russian Maria Sharapova reached the Pittsburgh final after a thrilling, three-set semifinal against American Ashley Harkleroad and went on to have a breakout summer, beating several highly ranked women and reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon.

"Sharapova started to make her mark in the Challenger Circuit, and our event last year was the best she'd done to that point," said Bette Salmon, honorary director of the tournament and president of the USTA Middle States region.

"She started to grow from there. I am kind of excited about our tournament; you see these young players start to emerge."

Professional tennis is a sport that appears much slower on television. It is therefore startling to see players at this level -- often 5-foot-7 women in the 120-pound range -- slamming the ball down the lines with such power and precision.

Ware noted that the intimate setting at Oxford is a plus.

"At this level, you can get up close and personal with the girls."

Admission is free until the Friday night and weekend sessions.

Harkleroad, 18, is the tournament's top seed, followed by Switzerland's Emmanuelle Gagliardi, Americans Amy Frazier, Kristina Brandi and Samantha Reeves, plus Italy's Maria Elena Camerin, the 2002 Pittsburgh champion.

"You know, just by watching some of these players, that they won't be back here next year," Salmon said. "They're going to make it at the next level."

Another player to watch is Russian Alina Jidkova, the 10th seed. Jidkova won Pittsburgh two years ago, when the tournament was played at Oxford East in Monroeville, and reached the semifinals last November.

Wild cards of interest are: Peters Township's Sarah Riske, a 2003 Vanderbilt grad; Elyse Steiner, a 16-year-old home-schooled player from Allison Park; and Florida's Sarah Taylor, who was 65th in the world before her wrist was injured in a fourth-round loss to Jennifer Capriati at the Nasdaq-100 Open last March.

"I was a little surprised [by the wild card]," said Riske, who was in Lexington, Ky. last week working out with former Vanderbilt teammate Julie Ditty, also in the Pittsburgh draw. "I was really very excited to get it."

The tournament might have "an amazing draw, tons of good players," but Riske said she is also profoundly happy to come home again.

"I don't get to come home a lot or stay at my house because holidays I was always in school and playing in the summer."

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