Our contributor Karen Helf is at the Carsbad Classic, the WTA 125K series event. After her report from the kick-off day, she’s tuning back in and will update us all the way to the Sunday’s final action. Enjoy!
A lot has happened at the Carlsbad Classic in the past few days. Impressive Canadian qualifiers Francoise Abanda and Sharon Fichman earned their way into the main draw. However both ladies ended their run on Wednesday. Francoise lost to Tatjana Maria of Germany, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round. Sharon lost her first round match to Marina Melnikova also with a score of 6-4, 6-3.
Top seed, Yanina Wickmayer played her first match on Center Court Tuesday, defeating American opponent Julia Boserup 7-6, 6-3. Yanina plays her next match Thanksgiving Day against American, Kristie Ahn who played for Stanford.
The tournament began with fourteen Americans in the main singles draw. As of Thanksgiving Eve, six remain including Cici Bellis, Jennifer Brady, Samantha Crawford, Kristie Ahn, Katerina Stewart and Nicole Gibbs. Of the eight seeded players, only four remain; Wickmayer, Maria, Jovanovski and Gibbs.
Vania King is out of both the singles and doubles draw. While Vania lost in singles to Canadian qualifier Francoise Abanda, fate was not on her side with the WTA ejection of her doubles partner Alla Kudryavtseva. This occurred during Alla’s match against Nicole Gibbs. The result, Vania was without a partner to continue in the doubles draw.
Three doubles teams remain from the original eight. Alternate team Gabriela Ce and Veronica Cepede Royg who replaced King-Kudryavtseva are already into the semi-finals. They have wins over Fichman-Dabrowski, 1-6, 6-0, 10-8 and Gibbs-Broady, 6-2, 6-0.
General admission tickets are only $15.00 so it’s a great family outing after a Thanksgiving feast and a healthy alternative to Black Friday shopping. The tournament schedule wraps up with the doubles final on Friday, singles semifinals on Saturday and the singles final Sunday. Start times vary so check the event site for details.
