Top seed hopes to follow path blazed by last year's champion

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A year ago, few outside the junior tennis world had heard of Kristie Ahn, a 15-year-old making her professional tennis debut. But she turned the inaugural Koser Jewelers Pro Circuit Tennis Challenge into her coming out party, winning the $10,000 tournament at the Hempfield Sports Complex as a wild card. She went on to win two other pro events and qualified for the U.S. Open.

Among those who watched Ahn's surprising run was Alexandra Mueller, a Philadelphia area native who lost a quarterfinal slugfest to Rebecca Marino, Ahn's opponent in last year's final.

Ahn is not among the entries in this year's tournament that begins Sunday, but Mueller, 21, returns as the top seed — a first for her pro career.

"I really didn't know who she was," Mueller said when she saw Ahn play last year. "But she played really well."

Mueller, who turned pro at 15, wouldn't mind duplicating Ahn's success. She has won three singles titles on the minor-league tennis circuit and is currently ranked No. 305 in the world. Two weeks ago, she reached the quarterfinals of a $50,000 event in Charlottesville, Va. Mueller hopes to achieve a world ranking near 200 by year's end. That, she said during a telephone interview from a tournament in Raleigh, N.C., would give her the opportunity to qualify for WTA and grand slam events.

She will face a tough field. Among those scheduled to play is Laura Granville, a two-time NCAA champion at Stanford who has twice reached the fourth round at Wimbledon. Between 2002 and 2007, Granville was ranked among the top 70 in the world, reaching a career high of No. 28 in 2003. But a wrist injury suffered while winning a $75,000 tournament in Midland, Mich., last year sidelined her for much of the year and her ranking has tumbled to 555 as a result.

After winning a tournament in Redding, Cal., earlier this year, she struggled in a series of clay court tournaments.

"Clay is not my favorite," she said by telephone from her home in Chicago. "I'm glad Landisville is on a hard court."

Other potential seeds include Petra Rampre of Slovenia, a former Wimbledon junior doubles finalist who won the 2005 Bent Creek Open; Paula Zabala, the No. 3-ranked Colombian and Alison Riske, a Pittsburgh-area high school senior and former PIAA state champion who reached the semifinals of the Pro Circuit event in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., last week.

Although she has played on clay for the past eight weeks, Mueller said she doesn't anticipate any difficulty transitioning to hard courts. Furthermore, she said she felt comfortable playing at Hempfield last year.

"It's a really nice club," she said.

That compliment never grows old, noted tournament director Wilson Pipkin.

"Last year we did a rough (attendance) count," Pipkin said. "We had 3,000 to 3,500 during the week and 600 to 700 for the finals."

USTA official Missy Malool said the attendance for a $10,000 tournament "was tremendous. It showed that Landisville had a knowledgeable and enthusiastic base."

Qualifying play begins Sunday at 9 a.m. A field of up to 64 players will vie for eight spots in the main draw. Main draw matches begin Tuesday with featured matches at the stadium court at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Semifinals in singles and doubles will begin Saturday at 10 a.m. and finals are scheduled for Sunday at 12 noon. Matches will be moved indoors in the event of rain. The tournament is free to the public.

Hempfield's 10th annual Wheelchair Tennis Tournament will be held the last two days of the women's tournament. Nationally ranked Tarek Zohdi of Ephrata won the event in 2008.

NCAA results: Hempfield graduate Alan Hummel helped Bloomsburg University advance to the NCAA Division II championships in Orlando, Fla. Hummel teamed with Seth Ryback to win at No. 3 doubles as the Huskies defeated West Virginia Wesleyan, 5-3, in the regional final.

• Millersville University's men's team dropped a 5-0 decision to Kutztown in first round of the NCAA Division II regional.

• The Lebanon Valley College men's and women's teams, which won Commonwealth Conference titles, lost in the opening rounds of the NCAA Division III tournament. The men lost 5-0 to Mount Union; the women fell 5-0 to The College of New Jersey.

Conference honors: Millersville men's coach Shari Bucklin-Webber has been named Intercollegiate Tennis Association Atlantic Region coach of the year.

• James Madison University freshman Leah DeMasters (Manheim Township) was named team MVP. She also earned second team Colonial Athletic Association honors.

• Elizabethtown College freshman Manrique Arrea was named co-Player of the Year as well as Rookie of the Year in the Commonwealth Conference. He joined teammates Brok Walker and Jeff Kirkhoff on the all-conference team.

• Elizabethtown's Emily Swarr (Manheim Central), Jessica Russell and Sarah Poulle earned all-conference honors as did LVC's Sammy Burkey (Cocalico) and Albright's Lisa Archibald (Pequea Valley).

E-mail: ecornelius@lnpnews.com