THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 1, 1994 TAG: 9408010135
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Day One of the $10,000 USTA Satellite of Norfolk women's tennis tournament turned out to be a bad one for seeded players, even worse for local stars and, starting at approximately 3 p.m., just a bad day for tennis, period.
Rain washed away most of the scheduled matches in the qualifying tournament, a 64-player event in which players vie for the four openings in the 32-player main field. Action will resume today at 9 a.m. at Old Dominion. Main-draw play begins Tuesday.
Before Sunday's rains came, three local players took their best shots in a field which features some of the nation's best college players. All were eliminated.
Jessica Zaganczyk of Virginia Beach, who reached the third round of the USTA Girls 16s clay court championships two weeks ago, fell to Margaret Harris of Harleysville, Pa., 6-3, 6-1. Harris played No. 5 singles last season at Wake Forest.
Clara Marks, the top player at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, dropped a 6-0, 6-1 decision to Kim Rogers, the No. 4 player at the University of Kansas. And Anna Maria Rosas, a Virginia Beach resident and a veteran of satellite play, was ousted by Briana Harris of Bradenton, Fla., 6-1, 6-1.
Ten of the 16 seeded players were evicted in either the first or second round. The most notable victim was No. 4 Marissa Catlin of Clearwater, Fla., who fell to Lorena Romano of Australia in a three-set marathon which a tournament official said took an astounding 5 1/2 hours to complete.
Although she isn't seeded, it was no surprise to see Luci Ludvigova advance to the third round. Ludvigova of the University of Texas, was the nation's top-ranked college player for much of the year, until a first-round loss in the NCAAs.
Virginia Beach's Julie Shiflet is expected to be the top seed in the main draw, which will be made today. But the most dangerous player in the field figures to be Angela Lettiere, the NCAA champion from the University of Georgia. In her first pro tournament last week, Lettiere upset Katerina Maleeva to reach the second round of the U.S. Hardcourt Championships. by CNB