Black Tennis Pros

American Sekou Bangoura, Brandenton, Florida

Former University of Florida standout Sekou Bangoura continues to carry over his stellar play from last year in Sunday’s final of the Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy $15,000 USTA-ITF World Tennis Tour event, beating Brazil’s Pedro Sakamoto 7-6(6), 6-0 for his first title of the 2019 in season in Naples, Fla.

The No. 4-seeded American was 3-1 in ITF finals last year. The 27-year-old Bradenton resident improves to 8-5 in career finals.

Bangoura in the semifinals defeated No. 7 seed Pietro Rondoni of Italy 7-6(2), 6-1, while Sakamota came back from a set down to outlast 18-year-old Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, a wearing result that took its toll the next day in the final.

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American Hailey Baptiste

A pair of USTA Pro Circuit events produced two American singles finalists, as Hailey Baptiste and Sekou Bangoura each contested rain-delayed finals on Monday in Florida.

The 17-year-old Baptiste claimed her first career professional title, at the ITF World Tennis Tour W25 event in Plantation, Fla., while Bangoura fell just short in his quest for back-to-back Pro Circuit titles, at the ITF World Tennis Tour M25 event in Palm Coast, Fla. Also in the Palm Coast event, Junior Alexander Ore teamed with Colombia’s Alejandro Gomez to win the doubles title.

Baptiste qualified for the Plantation clay-court event and dismissed three seeded opponents on her way to the title, dropping just two sets in seven matches on the week, including qualifying. The Washington, D.C., native scored three-set victories over No. 4 Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland in the quarterfinals and Hungary’s Anna Bondar in the championship match.

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In the first main draw matches of the day @cocogauff took down A. Kratzer 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 while @beccamarino defeated K. Sebov 6-3, 6-2 #DTC19

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Defending US Open National Playoffs men's champion Blake Strode continued to dominate, advancing to the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Tony Larson. Also reaching the semifinals were No. 2 David Martin, No. 4 Damon Gooch and Nathan Healey.

“The rallies were much longer today than in my first match yesterday,” said Strode. “He was hitting the ball really well and came out swinging from the first point. I was just able to hang in the rallies and come out on top for the most part.”

Strode has been in dominant form as of late, having dropped just four games in his two matches so far at the event. He also won his second USTA Pro Circuit singles title last week at a $10,000 event in Edwardsville, Ill., advancing through the draw without losing a set. Since winning the wild card into last year’s US Open Qualifying Tournament, he has climbed nearly 200 spots in the rankings to his current standing of No. 447.

“I think I’m doing almost everything better on the court than 12 months ago,” said Strode. “My forehand has more speed on it and my backhand has improved quite a bit. I’m happy with how things have progressed.”

Mashona Washington took a step closer to returning to the US Open on Day 2 of the US Open National Playoffs Men's and Women's Championships.

Washington's semifinal will pit her against No. 2 seed Yasmin Schnack, she beat No. 4 seed Amanda McDowell in straight sets. Washington is the only player remaining to have ever competed in the US Open with 13 previous appearances dating back to 1994, the most recent coming in the women’s doubles event in 2009.




Robin Anderson, who will be heading to UCLA this fall for her freshman year, continued her Cinderella run through the tournament after upsetting No. 1 seed Marie-Eve Pelletier in her first round match yesterday, putting on a clinic of counterpunching tennis as she dispatched Sylvia Kosakowski 6-3, 6-2.

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ROUND 1

WOMEN

Singles

(WC)Sloane Stephens, USA defeated (Q)Jamie Hampton, USA
6-2, 6-4

Doubles

Racquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigail Spears, USA
defeated
Julia Goerges, GER and Lisa Raymond, USA
7-6(7), 6-3


MEN

Singles

(13)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs. BYE

(WC)James Blake, USA vs. (Q)Chris Guccione, AUS

(Q)Donald Young, USA defeated Potito Starace, ITA
2-6, 6-3, 6-2


Injured

Gael Monfils, wrist


QUALIFYING SINGLES

ROUND 1

Women

(WC)Madison Keys, USA defeated Junri Namigata, JPN
6-4, 6-4


Men

Phillip Simmonds, USA defeated by Flavio Cipolla, ITA
2-6, 2-6

Raven Klaasen, RSA defeated Matteo Viola, ITA
5-7, 6-1, 7-6(5)

Donald Young, USA defeated Denis Kudla, USA
6-2, 7-6(4)


FINAL ROUND

Women

Madison Keys, USA defeated by Laura Pous-Tio, ESP
3-6, 6-7(2)


Men

Raven Klaasen, RSA defeated by Marinko Matosevic, AUS
6-7(4), 4-6

Donald Young, USA defeated Rudolph Siwy, CZE
6-2, 7-6(5)


ROUND 1

Singles

(WC)Alexandra Stevenson, USA vs. (5)Sesil Karatantcheva, KAZ

(WC)Alexis King, USA vs. Kristyna Pliskova, CZE

(2)Stephanie Foretz Gacon, FRA vs. (Q)Melinda Czink, HUN


Doubles

(1)Stefanie Foretz Gacon, FRA and Irena Pavlovic, FRA
vs.
Melinda Czink, HUN and Courtney Nagle, USA

(3)Ahsha Rolle, USA and Mashona Washington, USA
vs.
Katarzyna Piter, POL and Michaela Pochabova, SVK


Eliminated during singles qualifying rounds:

Jennifer Elie, USA
Ahsha Rolle, USA

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SINGLES

Round 1

Serena Williams, USA defeated Samantha Stosur, AUS
6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5

Round 2

Serena Williams, USA defeated Sara Errani, ITA
6-1, 6-2

Quarterfinal Round

Serena Williams defeated Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
6-7(6), 6-3, 7-6(3)


DOUBLES

Round 1

Racquel Kops-Jones, USA and Vladimira Uhlirova, CZE
defeated by
Jill Craybas, USA and Galina Voskoboeva, KAZ
4-6, 6-2, [10/4]


SINGLES

Round 1

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs. BYE


DOUBLES

Round 1

Jeff Coetzee, RSA vs. Rohan Bopanna, IND
defeated by
Nicolas Almagro, ESP and Ivan Navarro, ESP
3-6, 6-3, [10/6]




WOMEN'S SINGLES

Round 1

Angela Haynes, USA vs. Ajla Tomljanovic, CRO

Ahsha Rolle, USA vs. Alexandra Anghelescu, USA


WOMEN'S DOUBLES

Round 1

Ahsha Rolle, USA and Tiya Rolle, USA
defeated
Sabrina Capannolo, USA and Christian Thompson, USA
2-6, 6-4, [10/8]

Mashona Washington, USA and Maria-Fernanda Alves, BRA
defeated
Simona Dobra, CZE and Monika Kochanova, SVK
6-4, 6-1

Angela Haynes, USA and Christina Fusano, USA
defeated
Alexandra Anghelescu, USA and Hsu Chieh-Yu, USA
6-1, 6-0


Eliminated during singles qualifying rounds:

Tiya Rolle, USA
Whitney Jones, USA
Jennifer Elie, USA


MEN'S SINGLES

Round 1

Nicholas Monroe, USA defeated by Michael McClune, USA
0-6, 6-3, 7-6(6)

Phillip Simmonds, USA vs. Todd Paul, USA


DOUBLES

Round 1

Nicholas Monroe, USA and Phillip Simmonds, USA
defeated by
Uladzimir Ignatik, BLR and Tigran Martirosyan, ARM
3-6, 6-4, [10/3]

Paul Todd, USA vs. Gregory Ouellette, USA
defeated
Rhyne Williams, USA vs. Dennis Zivkovic, USA
1-6, 6-4 [11/9]

Marcus Fugate, USA and Andreas Siljestrom, SWE
defeated by
Tihomir Grozdanov, BUL and Simeon Ivanov, BUL
1-6, 6-3, [10/8]

Eliminated during singles qualifying rounds:

Marcus Fugate, USA

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SINGLES

Round 1

Alexandra Stevenson, USA defeated by R. De Los Rios (PAR)
6-7(4), 4-6

Ahsha Rolle, USA defeated by Mary Gambale, USA
1-6, 6-1, 3-6

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA vs. Chanelle Schneepers, RSA

Angela Haynes, USA defeated Julia Cohen, USA
6-1, 6-7(4), 6-3


DOUBLES

Round 1

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigail Spears, USA
vs.
Liga Dekmeijere, LAT and Jelena Pandzic, CRO

Angela Haynes, USA and Ahsha Rolle, USA
vs.
Georgie Stoop, GBR and Story Tweedie-Yates, USA

Tiya Rolle, USA and Brittany Augustine, USA
defeated by
Soledad Esperon ARG and Chanelle Scheepers, RSA
4-6, 5-7



SINGLES

Round 1

Phillip Simmonds defeated Kevin Kim, USA
7-6(6), 4-6, 6-4

Raven Klaasen, RSA defeated Shane LaPorte, USA
6-2, 6-3

Nicholas Monroe, USA defeated Rajeev Ram, USA
6-2, 1-6, 6-3


DOUBLES

Round 1

Raven Klaasen, RSA and Jonathan Marray, GBR
defeated by
Alex Bogomolov, Jr., USA and Dusan Vemic, SRB
0-6, 2-6

Phillip Simmonds, USA and Greg Ouellette, USA
defeated
Lester Cook, USA and Shane LaPorte, USA
7-5-6-4

Nicholas Monroe, USA and Alberto Francis, USA
defeated
Stephen Amritraj, IND and Peter Polansky, CAN
6-4, 3-6 (11/9)



SINGLES

Round 1

Marcus Fugate, USA vs. Andreas, Siljestrom, SWE


DOUBLES

Round 1

Marcus Fugate, USA and Nima Roshan, USA
defeated
Nicholas Edlefsen, USA and Tommy Garrison, USA
6-4, 6-7(5), (10/3)

John Hoyes, USA and Benjamin Rogers, USA
defeated
Sahr Timothy Kpulun, SLE and Logan McKenzie, NZL
6-3, 1-6, (10/4)

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SINGLES

Final Round

Milagros Sequera, VEN !! defeated Amanda Fink, USA
6-2, 6-0

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SINGLES

Semifinal Round

Milagros Sequera, VEN defeated Regina Kulikova, RUS
1-6, 6-3, 6-2


SINGLES

Semifinal Round

Marcus Fugate, USA defeated by Jean-Yves Aubone
3-6, 2-6


DOUBLES

Final Round

Marcus Fugate, USA and Tigran Martirosyan, ARM WINNER!!
defeated
Robbye Poole, USA and Rylan Rizza
4-6, 6-0 [10/8]

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SINGLES

Round 1

Alexandra Stevenson, USA vs. T-Hsuan Hwang

Erica Robertson, USA vs. Soledad Esperon, ARG


QUALIFYING ROUNDS*

Final Round

Sloane A. Stephens defeated Mary Gambale
6-2, 6-0


*Eliminated during qualifying rounds:

Tiya Rolle, USA



SINGLES

Round 1

Nicholas Monroe, USA defeated Michael Yani, USA
7-6(4), 6-3

Scoville Jenkins, USA vs. Phillip Simmonds, USA


DOUBLES

Round 1

Nicholas Monroe, USA and Phillip Simmonds, USA
vs.
Robert Kendrik, USA and Ryan Sweeting



SINGLES

Round 1

Marcus Fugate, USA vs. Andrew Roberts, AUS


DOUBLES

Round 1

Marcus Fugate, USA and Lance Vodicka, USA
vs.
Somdev Dev Varman, IND and Treat Huey, USA

For More Information About These tournaments click here.

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River Oaks U. S. Men's Clay Court Championship, Houston, Texas

Final Round - Singles

James Blake, USA defeated by Marcel Granollers-Pujol, ESP
4-6, 6-1, 5-7


Estoril Open, Estoril Portugal

Final Round - Doubles

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Wesley Moodie, RSA
defeated
Jamie Murry, GBR and Kevin Ullyett, ZIM
6-2, 4-6, 10-8


Family Circle Cup, Charleston, South Carolina

Final Round - Singles

Serena Williams, USA defeated Vera Zvonareva, RUS
6-4, 3-6, 6-3


USTA Pro Circuit

St. Vincent Auxillary Men's Professional Tennis Tournament, Little Rock, Arkansas

Semifinal Round - Singles

Marcus Fugate, USA defeated by Artem Sitak
6-7(1), 6-7(4)

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River Oaks U. S. Men's Clay Court Championship, Houston, Texas

Quarterfinal Round - Singles

James Blake, USA defeated Augustin Calleri, ARG
6-4, 6-3


Estoril Open, Estoril Portugal

Semifinal Round - Doubles

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Wesley Moodie, RSA
defeated
Yves Allegro, SUI and Nicolas Mahut, FRA
5-7, 6-4, 10/6


Family Circle Cup

Quarterfinal Round - Singles

Serena Williams, USA defeated Maria Sharapova, RUS
7-5, 4-6, 6-1


USTA Pro Circuit

Ballenisles Women's Challenger, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Semifinal Round

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Sunitha Rao, IND
defeated by
Ekaterina Afinogenova, RUS and Lauren Albanese, USA
6-4, 6-1


St. Vincent Auxillary Men's Professional Tennis Tournament, Little Rock, Arkansas

Quarterfinal Round

Marcus Fugate, USA defeated James Ward, GBR
7-6(3), 6-3

Phillip Simmonds, USA defeated by Julio Peralta, CHI
6-4, 6-2

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Ahsha Rolle, Angela Haynes, Tiya Rolle - M&F Bank Women's Pro Challenger of Jackson, Mississippi

Marcus Fugate, Phillip Simmonds, Josselin Ouanna and Jarmaine Jenkins - 2008 Newton Cox USTA Men's Professional Tennis Classic, Mobile, Alabama

Scoville Jenkins - Puerto Rico Challenger Tennis Event, Humacao, Puerto Rico

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Raquel Kops-Jones fed Rosana De Los Rios a steady diet of heavy groundstrokes and beat the top seed 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Pelham Racquet Club USTA $25,000 Pro Circuit Challenger.

Sunday turned out to be bonus day for nearly 100 fans who turned out to watch at least part of seven matches. Rain Saturday washed out all action on the clay courts and forced tournament officials to squeeze two days of play into one.

Kops-Jones and De Los Rios each showed signs of fatigue from having played a semifinal earlier Sunday. Each struggled to hold serve with De Los Rios losing hers three times and Kops-Jones twice in the first seven games.

Kops-Jones, who hyphenates her name to honor her father and mother, said she tried to stay away from the top seed's strong forehand.

"I was trying to hit mostly heavy balls to her backhand and open up the court for my forehand," she said. "I served mostly to her backhand and tried to get it up to her backhand."

Kops-Jones broke De Los Rios in the fourth game of the second set only to be broken herself at 15 in the next game. De Los Rios couldn't capitalize, however, as she went down love-40 on her next serve and lost her serve on the third break point of that game.

"She put a lot of topspin on the ball," De Los Rios said of Kops-Jones' attacking style. "I think that's why she beat me today."

From the beginning, it became apparent that De Los Rios couldn't get many shots beyond the reach of the No.7 seed. Kops-Jones sprinted from sideline to sideline and punctuated her play with winning shots.

"I'm tired so I don't know where I got the energy," Kops-Jones said. "I could tell she was tired as well. A lot of what I work on with my coach is a lot of footwork and making sure you're there for the ball and set up."

Kops-Jones received $2,940 for winning her second Pro Circuit event. De Los Rios got $1,666 as the runner-up.

Ahsha Rolle and Michaela Pastikova had never played doubles together before. Sunday, they looked like longtime teammates as they beat Ye-Ra Lee and Remi Tezuka 7-5, 6-2.

Pastikova is a former Australian Open doubles semifinalist who was No.32 in the world in doubles two years ago. The player from the Czech Republic said groundstrokes nicely complimented Rolle's net play.

The victors split $1,176 while the runners-up split $686.

Source

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Day 3, Wednesday, Feb. 6:

WHAT A DAY! I had a nice sleep last night. I went to bed around 8 p.m., but for some reason I woke up sleepy. I was up and ready to go to the courts by 9 a.m. because I had to hit at 9:30. There was a nice snow storm going on when I woke up. We got about 5 inches of snow, and it was so cold.

When I got to the courts, I had a nice little warm up, then I waited to play the second match after 10. I thought it was going to be a fast match before me, but sure enough it was three hours long. So I just chilled and watched the Fed Cup until it was time for me to play.

I ended up going on the court at around 1 p.m., and I was set to play Neha. I knew I was going to have a tough match because she likes to go for her shots, and when she is on, she can get you.

I think I was pretty steady today on the court. I didn't have that many chances in the first and second sets because she was solid. In the third, I stepped it up, and she went down a little, so I got off with a win. My match was also three hours long... WOW! I won, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (9), 6-1. What a match! And it just happened to be Neha's birthday. Sorry... happy birthday! :)

After my match, I had to sit down because I thought I was going to die. My legs were killing me because I needed some fuel, and I could feel them start to cramp. I didn't have time to go anywhere, and I couldn't because of the storm, so I was forced to eat pizza at the court... oh no, what should I ever do! :)

When I was done with the pizza, I drank two bottles of Gatorade with electrolytes in them, so I was good for my doubles match that we had to play at 5:15, when I finished my singles at 3:45. I will be stretching a lot tonight! We won our doubles, 6-2, 6-4. Good day for me. I am happy. Tomorrow is another day, though.

Finally, when I got home, I had to lie down for a minute and call my dad and let him know how my day went and let him give me his input since he couldn't be here this week. My dad knows me better then anyone in this world, so he is able to coach me over the phone. I don't know anyone else who can do that.

When I was done talking to my dad, I had to call me best friend Ahsha Rolle, and we talked and laughed for awhile like we always do. Now I can shower and eat. Actually, I wasn't hungry right away, so I just watched some cartoons with my little buddy over here named Cameron. He’s 7 and such a lady magnet. I was forced to watch “Lord of the Rings” with him because I just couldn't say no to his cuteness. I am going to sleep in tomorrow, anyway, because I am playing the featured match at 6 p.m. against Laura Granville.

Wish me luck everyone! I will talk to you tomorrow.

Angie
Day 4, Thursday, Feb. 7:

Wait until you here about my match! First, let me tell you how my day was leading up to it.

I slept in until 9 a.m., which was very abnormal for me, but I was so tired from yesterday. When I got up, I showered and ate something. I watched a little bit of "The Kingdom" with my boys over here -- they just love that movie.

After I watched about 10 minutes of that, I was out the door to the tennis center to get my hamstring worked on in the training room. I think that I might have pulled something yesterday. My leg was killing me while I was sleeping. When I got to the training, she stuck her elbow so far into my leg and butt that I thought I was going to give birth to it! I played it cool, though, and acted like it didn't hurt.

I watched a few matches for awhile after that. O'Brien against Cohen -- that would be my next match, so I had to see what they were working with. That was a one-sided match in the end.

I went home and took a nap around 2 so that I could get back to see that trainer again at 4. This time, she just did the stem and a heating pad on my leg before my warm-up at 5. My leg was feeling fine, but it was still very tight.

After my hit, I did my quick pre-game warm-up, which is going over some notes and listening to my zune, and, most importantly, calling my coach (Daddy). I called my dad to get some more confidence and reminders and all that; then I was ready to go. I felt really good going into the match, but I knew that Granville was going to be very solid.

Well, when we started the match, there was an umpire in the back calling the baseline, and already on game 2, he was messing up big time. He missed two calls that the chairperson had to end up calling for him. So after that game was over, which I won, I asked the chair if he was sleeping in the back, and he told me that he was going to do something about it, which he did. He replaced him with another umpire. So after that, everything was fairly OK. We still had a few bad calls, but it was on both sides.

I ended up losing the first set, 3-6. I still felt good because I was playing well, and I knew what she was doing out there.

In the second, I went down, 1-4, because I had a few misses. She wasn't giving any points away. I recovered and came back to tie it at 4-all; then she held for 4-5. Well, I was serving for 5-all, and I was down, 15-30, when I hit a good serve, and we had a short rally, and then she hit a backhand so far out that I didn't even swing at it. It was at least four inches out. You won't believe this, but they somehow managed to sneak the same umpire who was messing up in the beginning of the first set back on the court, and he missed the call again!

When I turned around and saw him, I wanted to grab him by the neck. I think I was more in shock, though, that they put him back on the court. He was just asleep out there all day. I know that he doesn't care about that call, but this is my job, and he is interfering with my money. So I ended up losing, 3-6, 4-6. I am so mad!

I feel that I gave my all, though. I am just going to go home now and sleep and try to think of what I could have done better. I have doubles tomorrow afternoon, so I will try to take the doubles home.

Angie

Day 5, Friday, Feb. 8:

Another day, another dollar. I did a lot of nothing today. I just had so much time to waste.

When I woke up this morning, my hamstring was killing me, so I headed right to the trainer, which was about 9 a.m. I actually waited a few hours because I was on the phone with my mom for a good 40 minutes. She was telling me about how my dogs are acting a fool. I know she loves to babysit them, though. She's not fooling anyone.

When I got to the courts, Tammy (the trainer), set me up on the stem machine again for about 15 minutes, and then she stretched me. My leg was feeling a little better at that moment. Once I was out of there, I watched Granville play a few games, and she wasn't looking too good against O' Brien. She went down, 1-5, before I left. She obviously got it together to win, 6-1, in the third. By that time, it was 12 p.m., so I went back to the house to relax before I had to hit at 2. I didn't do much at the house -- just check my e-mail and sleep.

I had to get my leg wrapped up once I got back to the courts at 1. The wrap felt pretty good when I was warming up, so I used it when I played my match. We were originally supposed to play at 3, but one of the players pulled out of the featured match of singles at 5, so we had to take their spot. That means we had to wait around for another three hours before we played. I just went back to the training room and got rewrapped tighter. It was a long three hours. I was so bored that I thought I was going to pull my hair out.

Finally the time came for us to play, and we were long ready. We played against Fichman and O'Brien. We got off to a slow start, losing the first set, 3-6. We were not as aggressive as we should have been, but we made an adjustment in the second by being more aggressive and poaching a lot more. We just knew their gameplan, also. Plus we were able to step up on the big points. The final outcome was 3-6, 6-3, 10-8. Good day. I am not ready to go home yet, and I was not about to let these little girls send me there.

I called my dad after the match, and he was pleased, I guess. I know he was holding back his tears of joy over the phone. I am glad that I made it through because my hamstring is still very sore. Mashona is playing well, and I think that she can carry me if she has to. She stepped up today like I knew she would.

I am playing second match after 6 p.m. tomorrow, so I am going to play some virtual tennis with my boy, Luke. Let's see if I can keep up with them because I am the worst at video games. OK, everyone. Good night to all, and talk to you tomorrow.

Angie

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American Angela Haynes is making some serious noise on the Pro Circuit. After a recent doubles title, Haynes made it to the final in Lawrenceville, Georgia this weekend. After a tight match, Haynes was defeated by American Julie Ditty 7-6(6), 6-4.



Technorati Tags: Sports Tennis Angela Haynes
Julie DittyUSTA Pro Circuit

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Angela Haynes took home her third USTA Pro Circuit doubles title of the year on Sunday, October 7, when she teamed with veteran Mashona Washington of Houston to win the championship at the $50,000 USTA Women's Tennis Classic of Troy, Ala.

Unseeded in the draw, Haynes and Washington were easy winners in three of the four matches they played during the week. After cruising to a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Russians Ekaterina Afinogenova and Angelina Gabueva in the first round, they came back with a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-8 (8) upset thriller over No. 2 seeds Sunitha Rao and Christina Wheeler in the second round. They went on to eliminate the third-seeded duo of Maria-Fernanda Alves and Stephanie Dubois, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals and then stunned top-seeds Eva Hrdinova and Marie-Eve Pelletier, 6-4, 6-2, in the final.

Haynes, a 23-year-old lefty from Irvine, Calif., won the doubles title two weeks ago with Melinda Czink at the $75,000 event in Albuquerque, N.M., as well as the championship in May with Monique Adamczak at the $50,000 event in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. She also reached doubles finals earlier this year in Allentown, Pa., and Carson, Calif., while teaming with Lindsay Lee-Waters.

Washington, 31, was playing in her first pro event since Fed Cup in July 2006, where she suffered a left knee injury that required surgery and ended her season.

Source - USTA (Sally Milano)

Technorati Tags: Sports Tennis Angela Haynes
Mashona Washington

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Tiya Rolle stood patiently on one of the lower courts Wednesday afternoon, helping grade-school children from the Pike County Housing Authority learn how to strike a tennis ball.

Rolle knows what it's like to be a small child looking for a sport at which she could be competitive.

“I started playing when I was nine,” she said. “And I'm 21 now.”

Hers is an athletic family, with sister Asha leading the way. Asha has won the USTA Tennis Classic of Troy twice, and made it to the third round of the 2007 U.S. Open.

“There's no jealousy there,” proud mom Sharon Rolle said. “Tiya, I think, is more of the coordinator when they're together.”

Rolle agreed.

“We're different people. There's not any jealousy,” she said. “When she (Asha) wins, I feel her success, too. When she loses, it hurts me.”

Rolle bowed out in the qualifying rounds of the singles matches for the Troy tournament, but she and partner Margot Carter are in the quarterfinals of the doubles draw.

This is my first time playing with Margot,” Rolle said. “She saw that I was looking for a partner to play doubles, and we went out there and won.”

Right now, 21-year-old Rolle is working on a more rounded game.

“Tiya's trying to add diversity to her game, work on the transition to the net game to be a more complete player,” Sharon Rolle said.

Rolle sees playing on the professional tennis tour for about three more years. After that, she has plans outside tennis.“

I'm going to continue to do this while I study law online,” Rolle said.

It takes a lot to get two daughters onto the pro tour, Sharon Rolle said.

“It takes a lot of work,” she said. “For them, it's the physical work - getting out there and practicing and working out. But it takes a lot of support, too, whether that's helping them while their traveling or making sure they're eating right or getting the right coaching.”

Rolle and Carter play the winner of Maria-Fernanda Alves/Stephanie Dubois and Angela Haynes/Mashona Washington today.

Source - The Messenger (Bobby Matthews)

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Two players that we have not heard much from this year are having some success on the USTA Pro Circuit. Americans Angela Haynes (pictured left) and Mashona Washington (pictured right) are entered into the main singles and main doubles draw of the Women's Tennis Classic of Troy in Troy, Alabama.

Playing doubles, Haynes and Washington were in action yesterday against the doubles team of Russians Ekaterina Afinogenova and Angelina Gabueva. The Americans defeated the Russians 6-0,6-4. Today they will be in action against the doubles team of Sunita Rao of India and Christina Wheeler of Australia.

Neither player survived their singles matches. Angela Haynes was defeated by Ekaterina Afinogenova 4-6,6-2,7-5; and Mashona Washington was defeated by Christina Wheeler 6-0,6-4.

For more information about the USTA Pro Circuit click here.

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