Women Who Serve: SMASH State Open Clay Court Junior Cup

Monday, February 25, 2008

Spartanburg teen gets Charleston qualifying wild card

Number 1 seed Mallory Cecil of Spartanburg, South Carolina has won the SMASH State Open Clay Court Junior Cup, which gives her an automatic wild card into qualifying for the 2008 Family Circle Cup. In a match that lasted over three hours, Cecil defeated number 2 seed Nadja Gilchrist of Hilton Head, South Carolina, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5.

Monday, February 4, 2008

SMASH State Open Clay Court Junior Cup to again offer Charleston wild card

At the end of this month, the SMASH State Open Clay Court Junior Cup presented by Chrysler will bring more than 400 regionally and nationally ranked juniors from twelve states and Canada to the Family Circle Tennis Center on Daniel Island, South Carolina. The tournament, one of only two premier junior tennis tournaments to offer top players the opportunity to compete for a wild card invitation into a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tier I event, will be held February 22-25, 2008.

The winner of the Girls 18 division is awarded a wild card to the qualifying draw of the 2008 Family Circle Cup.

About the blog author

Diane Elayne Dees is a writer, a retired psychotherapist, a former speech communication instructor, and a former public relations specialist. She is also a life-long fan of women's professional tennis.

For several years, Diane published the progressive blog, The Dees Diversion, and she also contributed regularly to the Mother Jones MoJo Blog. Diane has published political essays, short fiction and creative nonfiction. For the past several years, she has concentrated on writing poetry.

An eight-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Diane has published four poetry chapbooks, Coronary Truth (Kelsay Books), The Last Time I Saw You, (Finishing Line Press), The Wild Parrots of Marigny (Querencia Press), and I Can't Recall Exactly When I Died (Kelsay Books). (See ordering information at the top of the page.)

Diane's nature poetry was read on Martha Stewart Living Radio's "The Naturalist's Datebook." She has also published four microchaps with the Origami Poems Project: Beach Days, Pandemic Times, Missing Amy, and Yogic Truth.