$10,000 BENIN CITY 1, NIGERIA

17 Feb 2003 - 23 Feb 2003 Last Updated: 03 Feb 2003

Rank Date: 27 Jan 2003

3 February 2003 International Tennis Federation


Main Draw Nation Ranking Prot'd Points Information

1 MIHALACHE Magda (06/07/1981) ROM 346
2 ANTYPINA Olana (19/03/1979) UKR 383
3 MIRZA Sania (15/11/1986) IND 504
4 BAHN Elisabeth (01/07/1984) AUT 536
5 COLLISCHONN Isabel (16/10/1982) GER 537
6 FROEHLICH Jacqueline (04/07/1983) GER 567
7 KAMBIC Kim (01/11/1982) SLO 585
8 PENKOVA Maria (25/06/1984) BUL 603
9 THIMJAPO Chattida (05/10/1982) THA 623
10 TAMEISHI Keiko (22/04/1977) JPN 641
11 BABOS Zsuzsanna (23/02/1985) HUN 670
12 FERNANDEZ BRUGUES Eva (05/05/1986) ESP 691
13 COSTA Diana (09/02/1983) POR 704
14 ETZEL Franziska (22/11/1983) GER 716
15 HOMEWOOD Carly (05/11/1981) GBR 718
16 VAKHARIA Megha (28/08/1984) IND 719
17 BALDONI Giulia (19/05/1983) ITA 722
18 BERRY Melissa (29/06/1983) GBR 723
19 AIGNER Susanne (15/12/1983) AUT 734
20 YOUTHED Annabel (17/09/1984) GBR 736 =
21 FARID Yomna (28/06/1983) EGY 776 =


32 Qualifying Nation Ranking Prot'd Points Information

1 ERIKSSON Anna (17/04/1982) SWE 817 =
2 RIVOLTA Maria-Florencia (15/11/1981) ARG 889
3 KHALIFA Amani (09/06/1984) EGY 911 =
4 WEYREUTER Jessica (22/09/1983) ARG 911 =
5 RATIU Nicoleta (20/05/1984) ROM 987 =
6 DANDENIYA Rebecca (28/05/1984) GBR 1033 =
7 ZOTTA Alexandra (02/10/1982) ROM 1033 =
8 FALCON Megan (19/07/1985) USA 1091 =
9 PETERSSON Klara (17/11/1983) SWE 1141 =
10 AZIZ Magy (25/12/1987) EGY 1147 =
11 MOHSEN Noha (24/09/1984) EGY 1173 =
12 ANASTASIU Anca (14/06/1984) RSA 1184 =
13 ZAVAGLI Maria-Letizia (06/12/1982) ITA 1210 =
14 SNYMAN Michelle (04/07/1986) RSA 5.50
15 WEIHS Marielle (26/10/1986) AUT 1.50
16 GLATZ Katrin (07/03/1986) AUT 0.75
17 RIBEIRO Patricia (10/04/1986) POR 0.50

Strange decision by Megan Falcon to play here. Still, there should be some relatively easy points available.

I thought there were $10K in India weeks 07 and 08 :confused: .

Do some players prefer going sightseeing :confused: .

Oh god at the brits playing here again!:D

Draws seem a little stronger this time round!

Draw is stronger, but I would expect some withdrawals, as the tournaments in far off countries tend to get them in heaps.

Nice to see Keiko wising up and choosing to play here...if Carly Homewood can get to a final here, Keiko could at least get to a qtr or semifinal with the right draw IMO.

Megha Vakharia is listed in the first satellite as well as the one in the acceptance list in India . I am assuming she will play in the Indian one as she isn't listed in the commitments list for the 2nd satellite(and it makes more sense for her :) ). So I guess she is going to withdraw from the this commitment list. One of the qualifiers will make it to the the main draw anyway.

Just noticed Sania is listed in both. Sania make it 5 of 5 $10K events :bounce:

good luck GB Girls

Good luck, Maria Penkova :D

Go Brits!!!!!

I've just noticed that there's no Megan Emmett. She sometimes goes to these West African challengers. In fact her success at the Nigerian ones is the only reason she's got a world ranking!

What the heck is Sania doing in Nigeria when there is a $10K satellite of roughly similar (actually better) field in India?? ..

Makes no sense to me to go play this one.

Perhaps she wants to play a different group of players than she faced late last year. The names in the Indian satellites seem to be all familiar types.

Jay

Hope Sania wins these events!
The field is much better than the previous events'

Sania will have to be wary of Babos and Fernandez-Brugues. Maybe also Mihalache and Falcon.

Jay, I don't mind her playing here. She should (will) get a few points here whereas the not playing in the Indian futures will allow girls like Isha (if she gets a WC) to collect some points at the same time as well.
It might work out extremely well in the end points wise and can't hurt in any event.

The competition may be weaker than in the Indian tourneys, but I think Sania made a good decision to play here.

She'll be facing new opponents, plus it'll give the other girls a better chance to win in India. ;)

I would like to see her in bigger events after she plays these 2$10Ks though...

From what Jay has been able to gather, she will play in these futures hoping to get a few points and improve her rankings so that she can then play in the qualies of challengers etc etc. Also after those events ($10K's) she is planning to play in some Grade A Grade-1 type Junior events.

I'm assuming they will be from dates and locations but then again it might not :)

Malaysian International Junior Championships_17 Mar 2003
2003 Amata Cup, 23rd Thailand International Junior Tennis Championships_ 24 Mar 2003
14th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Championships_01 Apr 2003

That's your Sania update for day. You can also check out Jay's page www.tennisindia.org if you like or better yet the forums run by me ;) http://www.sports-india.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=2

thanks :)

no news on the main draw yet?

Is this tourney still on?

Well Yes. It is along with the mens future $15K which is being held in Benin City at the same time. It's just that the results are taking a little longer than normal to come in.

Article
As the prestigious Guinness/Ogbe Hardcourt International Tennis Championship serves off today in Benin-City, all eyes will be on top seeds Julien Cassaigne of France and Magda Mihalache, who are the players to beat.
The tennis fiesta which is the only point scoring event recognised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in Nigeria, offers a whopping $50,000 (about 6.7 million) as prize money to the over 128 players from 36 countries vying for honours

Good Luck to
9 THIMJAPO Chattida (05/10/1982) THA 623 :):):)

I have checked about four different newspaper sources from Nigeria. So far only Julian Cassaigne and Willem Petrus-Meyer on the men's side and Magda Mihalache on the women's side have been mentioned as top foreigners. Have seen some 3 or 4 articles on the minister and the city mayor bringing the event - only the ass-kissing articles so far :-(

I am keeping watch. Will report as soon as we find anything. I suppose the first round is just getting done, so it may still be a day more, unless Aceman gets anything..

Jay

only know 3 first round match ups

Elli Bahn (AUT, WTA 533) vs Amany Khalifa (EGY, WTA 862)
Susanne Aigner (AUT, WTA 727) vs Megan Falcon (USA,WTA 1079)
Melanie Wolkersberger (AUT) vs Q

good luck Mel in your first WTA event :hearts:

1st round:
Q-Melanie Wolkersberger AUT d. Q-Carina Hirsch AUT 64 62
:hearts: well done Mel :D

So much for "all eyes being on Magda Mihalache". The woman isnt even playing here - she's 4th seed in Buchen this week.

Hope Sania is here. She would be either the top seed or the # 2

1st round:
Christine Obermoser AUT d. ?Megan Emmett GBR 60 62
Amany Khalifa EGY d. Elli Bahn AUT 76 26 61
Susanne Aigner AUT d. Susan Okocha NGR 61 61
Patricia Mayr AUT vs Kathrin Glatz AUT
Melanie Wolkersberger AUT d. Carina Hirsch AUT 64 62
(1) Sania Mirza d. Marielle Weihs AUT 16 75 76

Sania :D phew :)

My response exactly :)

omg Megan :rolleyes:

So Magda & Olena withdrew...now there's only Sania as a "bonus girl"

Go Eva!!!!

how rare for a TOP seed being the youngest player
in a challenger event...........
hopefully Sania will leave 10K and go for 25K events
after she wins this......
10K is becoming to easy for her and she is using
up her number for tournaments
just win this thing MIRZA.......D

Sania isnt the youngest player here 3 Austrian girls here are 14 or 15

ok that draw Xian posted must be wrong, as Acemann's posted teh draw and Emmet isn't on it.

ok Emmet withdrew also Diana Costa or Alexandra Zotta as Obermoser is a LL
(1) Sania Mirza IND d. Marielle Weihs AUT 75 76
Magy Aziz EGY d. Esorae Nosa NIG 46 63 62
Michelle Snyman RSA d. Nicoleta Ratiu ROM 63 60
Kathrin Glatz AUT d. Patricia Mayr AUT 64 75
(3) Chattida Thimjapo THA vs Omatoyo Ibrahim NIG
Yomna Farid d. Tereza Svikova CZE ???
Susanne Aigner AUT d. Susan Okocha NIG 61 61
Christine Obermoser AUT d. (7) Costa POR or Zotta ROM ??
(5) Zuszanna Babos HUN d. Anabel Youthed GBR 63 ret.
Melanie Wolkersberger AUT d. Carina Hirsch AUT 62 64
Osaro Amadin NIG d. Fatima Abinu NIG 61 61
Franziska Etzel vs. Patricia Riberio POR
(8) Carly Homewood GBR vs Rebecca Dandeniya GBR
Femi Odeyemi NIG vs. Noha Mohsen EGY
Jessica Weyreuter ARG vs Sofia Brun SWE
Amany Khalifa EGY d. (2) Elisabeth Bahn AUT 76 26 61

2nd round:
Aigner d. Obermoser 36 64 75
Wolkersberger d. Babos 62 62