ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 5, 1996 TAG: 9608050156
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
When Karin Miller was summoned to the winner's circle Sunday at Hunting Hills, she was presented with an empty envelope.
So was runner-up Maria Jose Gaidano, although Gaidano knew that a check for $2,350 was waiting for her at tournament headquarters.
Miller, competing as an amateur, had to fill out a form listing her hotel bills, mileage and meals before she could receive expenses of approximately $865.
It wasn't the $4,300 she would have pocketed as a professional, but, half an hour earlier, Miller couldn't have been certain she would survive the second set.
Miller, a May graduate of Bradenton (Fla.) Academy, won the last 10 games Sunday afternoon to defeat the top-seeded Gaidano 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the USTA Women's Challenger of Roanoke.
It was the fourth consecutive three-set match for Miller, 18, and the third in which she lost the first set. It was also the third match in which Miller's opponent required an injury timeout.
The third set Sunday required less than 30 minutes, including a short break during which Gaidano was treated for an injury to her right foot and ankle.
Gaidano's left leg was wrapped to stabilize a groin pull, but that didn't affect her. She stubbed her right big toe during the second set, rolled her ankle in the process and broke her nail.
``I tried to win in two sets because I knew, if it went three, I was in trouble,'' said Gaidano, bleeding from the toe. ``I felt bad because I was starting to play good. I felt I was going to win the match.''
Miller said she was oblivious to Gaidano's injury until the match was interrupted with Miller ahead 3-0 in the third set. After the match, she still didn't know the nature of the injury.
``Injury or not, you have to go out there and play,'' Miller said. ``And, that's what I did. I don't feel bad that she was injured and I won. It's not like I had anything to do with it.''
The match had started to turn during the second set, when Miller changed her strategy and stopped trying to slug it out with the hard-hitting Gaidano.
``When it's always lob, always lob, it's difficult to play like that,'' said Gaidano, 23, who reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open in 1993 and was once ranked No.3 in her native Argentina.
Gaidano came to Roanoke ranked 164th in the world. Miller was 189th on the World Tennis Association computer, but drew confidence from a three-set victory over Gaidano in their only previous meeting.
Miller should move into the 160s with her win Sunday, but mostly she wanted to build some momentum going into the qualifying rounds of the U.S. Open. Money was no issue.
All of the money won by amateurs at a professional event is placed in a prize pool and then distributed based on the number of days a player competes. Miller could have received $981, but her actual expenses were lower.
``Would it have been tempting to take the $4,000?'' Miller asked. ``Of course, it would have been, but you have to tell them before the tournament if you're an amateur or not. This doesn't change anything.''
Miller only recently submitted her application to Duke. She had considered turning pro or playing the circuit for one more year as an amateur, and she still isn't sure she will be admitted.
``I probably won't know anything for a couple more weeks,'' she said. ``If I don't get in, I'll take it from there. I might stay out or I might apply somewhere else and enroll in January.''
The eight-day event concluded with the doubles championship, in which Liezel Horn of South Africa and Nino Louarsabishvili of Georgia defeated Shannan McCarthy and Rebecca Jensen 6-4, 6-4.
Louarsabishvili said she had to pressure Horn into playing with her, but Horn was hesitant only because Louarsabishvili had pulled out of last week's stop at Fayetteville, N.C., with a sprained ankle.
``When she first mentioned it, all I said was, `How's your ankle?''' Horn said. ``In these smaller tournaments, you pretty much play with whoever you can get, but we've decided we'll be together again next week.''
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. Karin Miller strains to reach a shotby CNBduring her victory in the championship match of the USTA Women's
Challenger of Roanoke. color.