International tennis tournament is underway in the city of the USA, Albuquerque. Georgian tennis player Anna Tatishvili is competing successfully in this tournament. Georgian top seed went through the 1/4 final of singles tournament and through the semifinal of doubles tournament (prize money is 75 000 USD). In the 1/8 final, a 20-year-old Tatishvili played against Julie Ditty, one of the winners of qualifying round, and beat experienced opponent (a 31-year-old Ditty was in the 89th place of rating two years ago) 6:4, 6:2.
It is worth mentioning, that Anna beat the host in the first round and she will play against American tennis player in the 1/4 final. Kimberly Couts will be the next opponent of Tatishvili. In the previous round, Couts easily beat Colombian Duque-Marino Mariana (number 4) 6:4, 6:0.
A 21-year-old Couts has never been a high-level player. She is in the 308th place at Women's Tennis Association (WTA). She was on the peak of her carrer in last April when she was in the 259th place.
Tatishvili and Couts played against each other only once in June 2008, at El Paso tournament (25 000 USD), in Texas. In the semifinal, No.2 seed Georgian player beat American (ranking 4) 6:4, 7:6 (7:5). In the final she defeated another host No.1 seed Lauren Albanese (6:4, 6:3) and became champion.
Tatishvili earned 30 rating points for going through the 1/4 final of Albuquerque tournament. Last year she was beat in the first round at this tournament. So, she will advance in classification.
No seed players are left in the wrap where Georgian tennis player is competing. In case of beating Couts, Anna will play against winner between Lee-Waters and Rolle. A 24-year-old Uzbek Varvara Lepchenko (No.1 seed, rating 103) who is competing in the name of the USA and Croatian Mirjana Lucic (3) are favorites in the second half.
In doubles tournament, No.3 seed duet of Anna Tatishvili and German Kathrin Woerle beat American Albanese and Croatian Tomljanovic 6:2, 6:1 and went through the semifinal where their opponents will be winner between American match (Spears - Washington against Fusano - Nagle).
Georgian tennis player Nikoloz Basilashvili went through the 1/4 final of the tournament (10 000 USD) which takes place in the city of California (USA), Costa Mesa. He played against Oleksiy Zhornyak and won over him 6:1, 6:7 (7:9), 6:3.
In the 1/4 final, No.2 seed Mexican Daniel Garza will be the next opponent of Nikoloz. In doubles tournament, Basilashvili and Romanian Daescu were beat by No.3 seed Japanese players (Ishii - Sato) 4:6, 6:4, 6:10.
No.4 seed duet of Lado Chikhladze and host Bellotti went through the final at the tournament (10 000 USD) which is held in the city of Italy, Brusaporto. They beat the hosts - Gaio and Micolani 6:2, 6:3. In the final they will play against No.1 seed duet of Crepaldi and Grassi.