By Jim Durham
Lexington Challenger Media Director
That both men’s and women’s No. 1 seeds are still alive for Semifinals Saturday at the $100,000 USTA Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships is unusual. But, the fact that Carsten Ball of Australia and Kurumi Nara were also involved in finals last Sunday in California and Dallas, respectively, is almost unheard of.
Never mind that the top three women’s seeds – Nara, Stephanie Dubois of Canada, and American Lilia Osterloh – are in this Lexington Challenger final four. Unprecedented!
Top-seeded Ball seemed plenty fresh Friday in beating Peter Polansky of Canada 6-3, 6-3, showing none of the exhaustion he must feel from taking the doubles runners-up trophy at the Aptos Challenger with Chris Guccione and traveling here Monday. He did the same exact thing last year, but was pounded in the first round by former University of Kentucky star Bruno Agostinelli. To compound the wear this time, he and Guccione won the Newport, RI, two weeks ago.
Ball pleaded not to label him a doubles specialist quite yet. “But, there’s not much room in the (singles) Top 100,” he said. “So, (to get there) I’ve got to stay healthy and play as many matches as I can.”
To keep playing at UK’s Boone Tennis Center that means at 4 p.m. he must defeat Alex Kuznetsov, an American he sidelined in three tough sets at Aptos last week. And Kuznetsov, the runner-up here last year, looked ANYTHING but unseeded in taking out fourth-seeded Kevin Kim 6-2, 6-3. “I’m just focusing on improving now, NOT winning or losing,” said Kuznetsov, who hopes having coach Martin Van Daalen from Saddlebrook (FL) here will prove the difference.
Also at 4 p.m. on the adjacent stadium court, 33-year-old Osterloh – ranked No. 41 in ’01 – will face Dubois, the ’07 Lexington champ who’s ranked as high as 95 in the world. Both advanced by identical 6-1, 6-3 scores over Asia Muhammad and Ukrainian Tetiana Luzhanska, respectively.
Following at 6 p.m., is a battle of seeds and fractions. Top-seeded Nara is a fraction over 5-feet while eighth-seeded Rebecca Marino of Vancouver, Canada is a fraction under 6-foot-2. But, the diminutive Japanese 18-year-old packs a lot of power because she – perhaps more than any woman in this draw – steps assertively into nearly every ball.
“I don’t have power so I have to move more,” said the Osaka native, whose coach (Taka Terachi) played Lexington three times during a 10-year pro career. Once No. 180 in the world, he has been working with Nara this year after six months with the recently retired Ai Sugiyama.
Terachi has his charge thinking positively – perhaps qualifying for the U.S. Open in a few weeks, but certainly taking down some tall timber at the Challenger level. This week is Nara’s first time seeded No. 1 at the $50K level. But, just last week she reached the $50K Challenger in Dallas (Grapevine, TX), losing to American Jamie Hampton.
Marino, who expects to be in the U.S. Open qualies too, routinely ended the Comeback/Star Turn of Alexandra Stevenson 6-4, 6-2. “I lost to her in three sets in November and I knew what to expect,” she said. “And, I wanted revenge.”
Marino, who actually signed to play at Georgia Tech, deferred a year, then signed again, was wistful about passing up the college experience – especially at that powerhouse program. But, she feels like she has the game to at least break the Top 100 if she’ll just take advantage of her height and reach advantage. “I have an aggressive game anyway, but I need to impose myself.”
In an all-American 6 p.m. men’s semi, fifth-seeded Jesse Levine will face unseeded Alex Bogomolov, Jr., who upset sixth-seeded Paul Capdeville of Chile 7-5, 6-2. Levine vaulted over Ukrainian Sergei Bubka 6-4, 6-0.
Both doubles finals will be played NOT before 8 p.m. and without the top-seeded duos in each, as both fell Friday night. Australians Kaden Hensel and Adam Hubble, the No. 2 seeds, face unseeded South Africans Raven Klaasen and Izak Van Der Merwe; and Australian Bojana Bobusic and American Christina Fusano face Americans Jacqueline Cako and Story Tweedie-Yates.
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