- Katarina Zoricic News
-
- Tuesday 12/14/04
-
These past few days, Katarina played in the Qualifying at the Orange Bowl at Crandon Park, Key Biscayne, Florida, North America - a Grade A, Hard Court, Outdoors tournament.
- In 1st Round Qualifying (Round of 64), it was Kat (seeded #14) vs. Thalia Diaz-Barriga (unseeded) of Mexico. This was another likely impressive and exciting match for the crowd, with Kat getting the win: 6-0, 7-5. YEA!
- In the 2nd Round Qualifying (Round of 32), it was Kat (seeded #14) vs. Keri Robison (unseeded) of the USA. In another likely very exciting, and impressive, match for the crowd, Kat got another win: 7-6(8-6), 6-2. YEA!
- Then it was on to the 3rd, and Final, Round of Qualifying (Round of 16). This was Kat (seeded #14) vs. Raluca Olaru (seeded #2) of Romania. Well, Olaru got the win: 6-0, 6-4. Oh well... (Not an upset, and probably an exciting 2nd set for the crowd, at least!)
- Kat seems to have skipped Doubles here also. Oh well...
- SO: for these "Big 3" Juniors tournaments, Kat has nicely defended her rankings and seedings, and given the crowds some great shows, but she has not done anything "amazing".
- This may be because Kat is more focussed on her "Pro" career (which I think would be a bad idea), or she may be more focussed on her academics (which I would have no problem with, at all!), or, perhaps, it is just a case of "stuff happens" (and it certainly does, eh?).
- PLAY ON, Kat, and HAVE FUN!
-
- Tuesday 12/7/04
-
Well, it was Kat vs. Kat in the 1st Round Qualifying (Round of 48) this past weekend at the Winter Championships at Crandon Park, Key Biscayne, Florida, North America - a Grade 1, Hard Court, Outdoors tournament.
- So it was Katarina Zoricic vs. Ekaterina (aka. Katia, aka. Kat) Afinogenova of Russia - both unseeded.
- Well, Kat got the win: 6-4, 6-3! But it was Katia - oh well...
- (It happens to be the case that I saw at least 2 years of Katia matches here before I saw my first Katarina match, and I have liked Katia's matches a lot, from the beginning, and have always wanted her to win - except this time. Oh well...)
- The Main Draw Doubles don't seem to include Kat. Oh well...
- So it seems Kat has not had a great start to these December tournaments, but she has not "failed" in any way, just hasn't advanced beyond her seedings.
- Next is the Orange Bowl.
PLAY ON, Kat, and HAVE FUN!
-
- Friday 12/3/04
-
Well, tennis was not kind to Katarina this past Wednesday - but hopefully it was some FUN!
- At the Eddie Herr in Florida, around midday Wednesday, it was 2nd Round (Round of 32) Singles: KZ (unseeded) vs. Ana Jerman of Slovakia (seeded #11).
- Well, Jerman got the win: 6-1, 6-3. Oh well... (Not an upset, though!)
- So then it was Doubles Time! Kat teamed with the USA's Yvette M. Hyndman, as she has done some lately, with considerable success.
- Mid-afternoon Wednesday it was 1st Round (Round of 32) Doubles: KZ/YH vs. Alejandra Guerra/Valeria Pulido, both of Mexico, both teams unseeded.
- Well, the Mexican team got the win: 6-3, 6-3. Oh well... (Since both teams were unseeded, I suppose this was also not an upset, eh?)
- There are indications that Kat will be playing at the Winter Championships (starting tomorrow?) and the Orange Bowl after that.
- After about a month off, Kat's (in a way) somewhat "slow start" to these Big 3 Tournaments is probably not significant.
- These next 2 of the Big 3 provide much opportunity for Katarina to do amazing things - which would be NICE!
- But MOST OF ALL, Kat: HAVE FUN!
-
- Monday 11/29/04
-
This week, Katarina is playing at the Eddie Herr International, a Grade 1 Hard Court Outdoors Juniors Tournament at the Bollettieri Sports Academy in Bradenton, Florida, USA, North America.
- Kat was placed in the Main Draw (unseeded - Round of 64) and faced a Qualifier, Erika Perez of Canada, around mid-day today.
- Perez had qualified very impressively - unseeded, she won three 2-set matches, including victories over the 2 seeds in her section.
- So Kat gave the crowd a very good show, in two very different ways, and WON: 7-5, 6-0! YEA!
- Second Round (Round of 32) for Kat will be vs. Ana Jerman of Slovakia, the #11 seed. It is scheduled for 11:30am Wednesday.
- This looks like another nice challenge for Katarina, and very winnable, although Kat will be "technically" the "underdog".
- PLAY ON, Kat! And HAVE FUN!
-
- Monday 11/8/04
-
Last week, Katarina was back to playing Pro, and seemingly played VERY WELL!
- Kat was placed, as a Wild-Card, into the Qualifying at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, North America - a Tier III $170,000 WTA Hard-court Indoor Tournament.
- In 1st Round (Round of 32), Kat (WTA ranked #676) faced Elena Vesnina of Russia (WTA ranked #311).
- Well, this was a loss, but Kat clearly gave the crowd a GREAT show, and came very close to a major upset - the score was 7-5, 7-5.
- (So both sets must have passed through 5-5, eh?)
- NICE TRY in Quebec, Katarina!
- PLAY ON, Kat! And HAVE FUN!
-
- Tuesday 10/5/04
-
Last week, Katarina was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, North America - and Kat got some VERY NICE Wins!
- Kat played at the University of Tulsa Michael D. Case Tennis Center in the Chanda Rubin North/Central and Carribean Closed ITF Junior Championships, a Grade B1 Hard Court Outdoors event.
- In Main Draw Singles, Kat was seeded #13, and faced Qualifier Simone Templeton, of Austin, Texas, USA, in the 1st Round (Round of 64). Templeton had Qualified impressively, coming back in at least 2 matches from losing the 1st set 4-6.
- SO: Kat sat Templeton down very surely: 6-2, 6-2. YEA!
- In the 2nd Round (Round of 32), it was Kat vs. Yumi S. Hasegawa of Zephyrhills, Florida, USA. The result? Zoricic d. Hasegawa: 6-0, 6-2. WOW! YEA!
- The 3rd Round (Round of 16) was Katarina Zoricic vs. Karina V. Porushkevich of Los Angeles, California, USA. Well, KP d. KZ: 6-2, 6-4. Oh well...
- Even so, this was a VERY NICE Singles run for Kat! Two HUGE wins, and then, well, a bad day. VERY GOOD, Kat!
- Meanwhile, Kat was also playing Doubles (YEA!).
- Katarina teamed with Yvette M. Hyndman of Bradenton, Florida, USA, and they were seeded #3 in Main Draw Doubles.
- In the 1st Round Main Draw Doubles (Round of 32), it was KZ/YH vs. Cristala Andrews (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)/Krista Damico (Parker, Colorado, USA), unseeded. ZH got the win: 6-4, 6-4. (YEA! And probably a good show for the crowd!)
- For the 2nd Round Main Draw Doubles (Round of 16) ZH faced the team of Christina Liles (Largo, Florida, USA)/Jennifer Stevens (Miami, Florida, USA), unseeded. This was another win for ZH: 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 (YEA! And probably another good show for the crowd!)
- So it was on to the Quarterfinal Main Draw Doubles (Round of 8) for ZH. This was ZH vs. Andrea Brenes (Costa Rica)/Ashley M. Spicer (Round Rock, Texas, USA), seeded #6.
- This was the 1st seeded vs. seeded match for ZH. So ZH CRUSHED their opponents: 6-1, 6-3. YEA!
- In the Semifinal Main Draw Doubles (Round of 4) it was Zoricic/Hyndman vs. Megan N. Alexander (Tyler, Texas, USA)/Sarah Lancaster (San Antonio, Texas, USA). Well, it was clearly a GREAT show for the crowd, with 2 sets of 7-5 (the 1st to AL, the 2nd to ZM), but then the 3rd set went to AL 6-1. Oh well...
- This was a VERY GOOD Tournament for Kat!
- And it is very nice that Kat is playing Juniors. Although there is no money there (money does not equal life, or achievement), it is very good for Kat to play Juniors - because the opportunity to do so will end fairly soon. And the Juniors Tour is, in some ways, even more challenging than the Pro Challengers Tour.
- WELL DONE in Tulsa, Katarina!
- PLAY ON, Kat! And HAVE FUN!
-
-
- Go: to previous KZ News: click here!