Black Tennis Pros

American Alexandra Stevenson had the pleasure of having more than the Charleston, South Carolina tennis fans observe her match against Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan - dear old dad was in the stands.

Former NBA superstar Julius 'Dr. J' Erving sat in the stands of the Family Circle Cup and for the first time witnessed Alexandra play a tour match. As depicted in ESPN's "Outside The Lines, Reaching Out: Alexandra Stevenson And Julius "Dr. J" Erving," the father and daughter have been slowly building their newfound relationship.




Of Erving's visit Stevenson said, “He actually wanted to come to one of the challenger tournaments, and I was like, I don’t think you should come there. We play on public parks, and some of them are a bit sketchy.”

“This is a nice tournament to come to, and I think he knows the tournament director, Bob Moran, and he just picked this tournament.”

“We were never in a bad place, I just didn’t know him. So it’s good now. I mean, obviously, it’s still odd, because you are getting to know somebody. But it’s nice that I know him, and he is supporting me out here, coming to watch me play."

Stevenson was not able to bring in a win in front of her father, as she was defeated by Amanmuradova 6-2, 6-4. When asked if having Erving present made her nervous Stevenson said, “I actually didn’t even see him until the second set.”

“And he can see how hard tennis is. It’s not like basketball where you have a whole team of support. So it’s nice that he came out here.”

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American Shenay Perry, a qualifier, upset 15th-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina.

At the same tournament, 'can't stop won't stop' American Angela Haynes had her marathon of tennis halted by Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-4, 5-7, 6-0.

This is usually not a good thing, but in Haynes' case, the opportunity to rest just might be.

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Newly coiffed Frenchman Gael Monfils may be stylishly ready for summer, but he definitely wasn't ready for the red clay courts of the Masters Series Monte Carlo Tennis Tournament today.

For the man who reached the semifinals of the French Open in 2008, you would never have known that Monfils can find comfort in playing on clay. He appeared to be totally ill at ease with the surface. Additionally, Monfils had both knees taped.

Monfils' opponent, Serb Janko Tipsarevic, appeared to be much more prepared and took Monfils to task. In little more than an hour Tipsarevic defeated Monfils 6-3, 6-1.

With regard to his bandaged knees, Monfils told reporters "No (I was not bothered by the bandages). I'm playing with it and I'm getting used to it,"

"They keep my knees very tight. I have pain when I take them off. In fact, my knees hurt when I climb the stairs."

Well, looks like you've got plenty of time to rest them now.

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(l-r) Mashona, Raquel Kops-Jones, Ahsha Rolle, MaliVai Washington, Jill Craybas, Shenay Perry, Abigail Spears and Melanie Oudin.

Mashona and fellow ladies of tennis pop in on big brother MaliVai Washington (c) in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Raquel Kops-Jones, Abigail Spears and Mashona in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Photos printed with permission of Mashona Washington

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I'm tired and energized for her!

American Angela Haynes was unable to compete on Saturday for day one of qualifying at the Family Circle Cup, Charleston, South Carolina because she was in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida playing a doubles semifinal match.

Haynes and doubles partner Liga Dekmeijere of Latvia were knocked out of the MPS Group Championships by the team of Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang 6-4 6-3.

So what does Haynes do next? She make her way to Charleston, South Carolina where she has to play two rounds of qualifying on Sunday, and of course win both, for a potential slot in the main draw.

And damn it, she does it!

Haynes will meet Russian Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round.

American Shenay Perry also prevailed in the qualifying rounds to secure a spot in the main draw. Ahsha Rolle, Danielle Mills, and Mashona Washington were all eliminated.

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Sunday Preview

Seven of the eight qualifier-reserved spots in the Family Circle Cup main draw could potentially go to Americans, as the qualifying wraps up at the $1-million tournament on Sunday.

Melanie Oudin, Abigail Spears, Madison Brengle, Lilia Osterloh, Shenay Perry and Mashona Washington are all one win away from the main draw, having won their first round qualifying matches on Saturday.

In the second round on Sunday the Americans will have their work cut out for them however, with only one of them being the on-paper favorite to win their match: Brengle, seeded No.16 this weekend, plays unseeded Catalina Castano. No.10 seed Oudin faces No.5 seed Anna Tatishvili; No.15 seed Spears faces No.3 seed Betina Jozami; unseeded Osterloh plays No.4 seed Lenka Wienerova; Perry, also unseeded, plays No.9 seed Kristina Kucova; and Washington will play Marie-Eve Pelletier in a battle of unseeded players.

Angela Haynes, the No.2 seed, also has a shot at the main draw, but will have to win two matches in one day, as she and Liga Dekmeijere weren't able to play on Saturday on account of contesting the doubles semifinals in Ponte Vedra Beach. Haynes will play Ekaterina Afinogenova early on Sunday and, should she win that, would then play either No.13 seed Chan Chin-Wei or Dekmeijere in the second round.

QUALIFYING SINGLES

Round 1

Angela Haynes, USA defeated Ekaterina Afinogenova, RUS
6-3, 6-2

Ahsha Rolle, USA defeated by Lenka Wienerova, SVK
2-6, 2-6

Danielle Mills, USA defeated by Melanie Oudin, USA
0-6, 2-6

Mashona Washington, USA defeated Tetiana Luzhanska UKR
6-3, 6-4

Shenay Perry, USA defeated Ekaterina Bychkova, RUS
6-3, 6-3


Round 2

Angela Haynes, USA defeated Chin-Wei Chan TPE
6-2, 6-2

Mashona Washington, USA defeated by Marie-Eve Pelletier, CAN
4-6, 4-6

Shenay Perry, USA defeated Kristina Kucova, SVK
7-5, 6-2

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