Clemson Women’s Tennis Players Set To Compete At Riviera/ITA All-American Championships

Oct. 1, 2004

Clemson, S.C. – Four members of the Clemson women’s tennis team will participate in the 2004 Riviera/ITA All-American Championships at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, CA to be held Oct. 2-10. Daniela Alvarez, Maria Brito, Julie Coin and Romy Farah will be competing at the fall season’s premier hard court event.

Competition begins on October 2 with the prequalifying singles tournament at UCLA from which four players will advance to the second qualifying tournament. Freshman Tiger Romy Farah will face Dinka Hadzic of Washington, a junior from Croatia, in her first round match. In her first tournament as a Tiger, Farah won all three of her matches to capture the flight four singles championship at the Furman Fall Classic.

Clemson’s Daniela Alvarez and Maria Brito will begin play in the qualifying singles round on Tuesday, October 5 in a draw to be posted on www.itatennis.com on October 2. In last year’s championships, Brito reached the qualifying tournament by winning her three matches in the prequalifying round. The sophomore from Mexico City won her first match in the second tournament before falling in the second round. Alvarez earned an automatic bid to the qualifying round and advanced to the main draw. However, she suffered an injury in the first round that forced her to retire from the tournament.

Senior Julie Coin received an automatic invitation to the main draw of the ITA Championships to be held on October 7-10. She was a semi-finalist in the 2003 tournament after upsetting the sixth seed in the opening round and winning her next two matches. Coin is the fourth seed in this year’s tournament. Her first-round opponent will be announced on October 6 on the ITA’s website (www.itatennis.com).

In doubles action, two teams will represent Clemson. Coin and Farah will compete together as will Alvarez and Brito. This will be the second tournament for both doubles teams, as Coin and Farah captured the Furman Fall Classic flight two doubles crown and Alvarez and Brito have been the Tigers’ top doubles team since the beginning of the 2003-04 season. In her first appearance at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in 2003, Alvarez was paired with Alix Lacelarie and the duo reached the main draw after winning their three qualifying round matches. Brito competed in the qualifying doubles draw with Coin in 2003, advancing to the second round.