
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994                   TAG: 9406080047
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NCAA CHAMP SLATED TO PLAY IN ROANOKE

NCAA Division I women's singles champion Angela Lettiere is expected to compete in the $10,000 USTA Women's Circuit of Roanoke in July at Hunting Hills Country Club.

Third-seeded Lettiere, a senior at the University of Georgia, beat UCLA's unseeded Keri Phoebus 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in the championship match in Athens, Ga., on May 21. Hunting Hills tennis pro and tournament director John Barker said Lettiere's coach told him the Vero Beach, Fla., resident plans to play the summer pro circuit that will make a stop in Roanoke for the seventh straight year.

To reach the NCAA final, Lettiere beat Mississippi's Paloma Collantes 7-6 (8-6), 6-1. Collantes lost the 1991 USTA Roanoke final to Stanford's Kristine Kurth.

The Roanoke tournament runs from July 24-31. It's part of a summerlong pro tour that attracts some top college players and young pros trying to move up the rankings ladder and earn a spot in the U.S. Open in August.

Mary Pierce, who lost the French Open final last weekend after beating top-ranked Steffi Graf in the semifinals, won her first prize money as a professional in Roanoke when she and then-University of Georgia sophomore Shannan McCarthy won the doubles title in 1989.

Open qualifying will be held July 24-25 at River's Edge and North Cross courts and is free to the public. Main draw matches begin on the 26th. Tickets are $20 for matches Tuesday-Sunday; $2 for Tuesday only; $3 each day for Wednesday and Thursday; $4 for Friday; and $5 each day for Saturday's semifinals and Sunday's final. - SCOTT BLANCHARD

by CNB