The USTA's Pro Circuit series is for the young and up-and-coming of women's tennis. It is not a place where on the courts one would expect to find the mother of a 9-year-old daughter.
She's Rossana De Los Rios. At the Santaluz Open, the 31-year-old native of Paraguay has been teaching players considerably junior to her a thing or two.
“They are young, but I still have experience and I feel good,” De Los Rios said yesterday after outplaying Leanne Baker of New Zealand 6-0, 6-4 for a place in today's final of the $50,000 event.
At 11 a.m., De Los Rios is to oppose Ivana Abramovic of Croatia. Abramovic, 23, surrendered nine of the first 11 games, then rallied for a 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 conquest of the tournament's No. 1 seed, Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada.
The De Los Rios-Abramovic winner is to receive $7,700, with $4,200 going to the runner-up.
De Los Rios, whose name in Spanish translates to “Rossana of the Rivers,” was in full flow against Baker, playing a near-flawless first set against the athletic woman from New Zealand and capturing the first nine games.
The mother of Anna Paula Neffi De Los Rios is making San Diego her practice base as she readies for a full-time return to the WTA Tour. Her hope, she said, is to penetrate the top 100 in the rankings. A tourist since 1992, she was ranked as high as No. 51 in November 2002. Her current ranking: No. 263.
But she has not been playing regularly since 2003, her career having been interrupted by knee and wrist injuries.
Baker made a stand after dropping the first nine games, evening the second set at 4-4, but she had her service severed at that point and De Los Rios served out the match.
The Abramovic-Wozniak match was a suspenseful one, the drama centering on whether the European woman would be able to complete it. After creating a 4-0 advantage in the third set, she had a match point with Wozniak serving at 2-5, but it escaped her when a lob fell barely long.
In the following game, Abramovic held two more match points on her serve. Again she could not close out matters. Wozniak resisted two more match points, each time with aces, when she was serving at 5-6, but finally, on her sixth match point, the winner was able to punch a climactic backhand down the line.
“I was nervous,” admitted Abramovic. “The last point, I was saying, 'I'm not going to miss this one. I'm just going to fight, fight, fight, and if I get a chance, I'm just going to take it,' and I did. My last energy I put in that shot down the line.”
For a set and a half, Wozniak appeared a certain winner, playing solidly in the opening set and assuming a 3-1 advantage in the second. But at that point, Abramovic began an eight-game run.
Bill Belser, Canada's Fed Cup captain, said Wozniak had not been sleeping well and that she tired. Abramovic, meantime, was coming on with her baseline game.
“Each game, I was playing better and better,” said the player from Zagreb, Croatia, “and I started to find my game. I never had played against her, and I didn't know what to expect – what was her worse side. I realized later that she was hitting a lot of winners with her forehand, and I based my game on that.”
Jerry Magee: (619) 293-1830; jerry.magee@uniontrib.com
