One week before their first collegiate tournament, women's tennis players Kristin Cargill and Tory Zawacki tested their games on the professional tour in the $25,000 Coca Cola Tennis Classic in Raleigh, N.C.
Because both Cargill and Zawacki have played limited professional schedules, they had to compete in the qualifying draw in hopes of earning a spot in the main event.
Cargill, a 5-foot-10 freshman from Atlanta, Ga., who was ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation in the juniors, drew top-seed Natallia Dziamidzenka in the opening round and dispatched the Bulgarian 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
"I played really well in my first match and I was able to figure out the patterns [Dziamidzenka] was using," said Cargill, whose sister Ansley played for one year at Duke and is currently ranked No. 95 on the WTA Tour. "She's the biggest win that I've had on the pro tour. It's hard for me to get a chance to play people ranked as high as her because I'm not doing this full time."
Cargill needed to win her second-round match against 13th-seeded Elizabeth Schmidt to advance to the main draw, but Schmidt, a clay court specialist, used her experience on the slow surface to eliminate the former Georgia Athlete of the Year 6-3, 6-1.
"[Schmidt] played really smart against me," Cargill said. "The first set was tied at 3-3 and we were battling in a deuce game. Then she started slicing her backhands and figured out that she could win if she mixed up the pace."
Cargill's classmate Zawacki, who is currently ranked No. 701 in the world and was seeded 12th in the qualifying event, had similar results. The Union, N.J. native also faced a Bulgarian in her first match, taking out Evgenia Subbotina 6-7(4-7), 6-4, 6-1.
"It felt good to win because I played [Subbotina] over the summer and lost to her, and that made me a little hungrier," Zawacki said. "I was also a little nervous because I hadn't played a tournament in a while."
However, Zawacki fell 6-4, 6-0 in the second round to Czechoslovakia's Vladimira Uhilrova, who played four years at the University of Texas and was the Longhorns' No. 1 player in 2002.
"[Uhilrova] has a lot more experience than me and she just played a little bit smarter," said Zawacki, who has competed in the junior U.S. Open, Wimbledon, French Open and Australian Open. "Overall, though, I thought I had a good tournament."
Also playing in the Coca Cola Classic is former Duke star Kelly McCain, an All-American in 2002 and 2003 who gave up her final two years of collegiate eligibility to play full-time on the professional tour. McCain, who is ranked No. 308 in the world, will play fifth-seeded Maria Alves in the first round of the main draw.
Cargill and Zawacki, one of the strongest freshmen tandems ever in the women's tennis program, begin their college careers this Thursday at the Adidas Tennis Classic in Peachtree City, Ga. Fellow freshmen Parker Goya and Jennifer Zika, as well as three-time All-American Amanda Johnson and junior Saras Arasu, will also see action for Duke.
"I feel like this tournament [in Raleigh] was a good preparation mentally and physically for my first college event, and I'm sure Kristin feels the same way," Zawacki said. "I'm going into this weekend feeling very confident."
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