Sophomore Venise Chan (Washington), who had just been accorded a preseason NCAA ranking of No. 28 last week, is set to face 47th-ranked Nina Munch-Soeggard (TCU) in the opening round of the women's singles qualifying at the 2008 Riviera/ITA All-American Tennis Championships – the season-opening major on the US collegiate circuit.
2008-09 Women's DI Preseason Rankings
Women's Singles Qualifying Draw
Earlier this summer, Venise was a finalist at the US$10,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Khonkaen, Thailand, before she managed to qualify for the maindraw of the US$25,000 event in Noto, Japan.
Munch-Soeggard, Texas Christian University's No. 1 player, is heading into the Riviera on the back of a 1-2 preseason record from the Bulldog Classic two weeks ago where she lost to both 60th-ranked Tara Iyer (Duke) and 68th-ranked Jennifer Stevens (Virginia) in straight sets.
Last Fall, Munch-Soeggard fell in the opening round of the women's qualies at the Riviera before coming good with a win at The Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational and a semifinal showing at the Wilson/ITA Southwest Regional Championships the following month, where she went down against eventual champion, Lenka Broosova (Baylor), who is currently ranked 8th nationally.
The 2007-08 season also saw Munch-Soeggard start exclusively at the one spot for TCU, going 16-8 in all dual matches that was highlighted by a win against 15th-ranked All-American, Melanie Gloria (Fresno State).
The winner of the Venise Chan-Nina Munch-Soeggard match will go on to meet either a pre-qualifier or 50th-ranked Sasha Kulikova (Wake Forest) for a place in the last sixteen, where a subsequent potential showdown with qualies No. 9 seed and 33rd-ranked Yvette Hyndman (Georgia) is on the cards.
The 32-player women's singles draw at the Riviera is made up of 24 at-large (and wild card) selections in addition to 8 players from the qualifying tournament.
With the qualies, in turn, being a 64-draw, in order to reach the main round proper, a player would therefore need to progress to the quarterfinals, i.e. winning a minimum of three qualifying rounds.
Hyndman's path to the last eight, however, is littered with potentially tricky obstacles. In the first round, she is pitted against 71st-ranked Maria Sanchez (USC), the third-best ranked player on the Trojans' roster following the departure of senior Lindsay Nelson.
Should the second year player from Georgia go through to the next round, she will then go up against either 93rd-ranked Ana-Maria Constantinescu (Oklahoma) or 70th-ranked Megan Alexander (Florida).
Other notables who are also contesting the qualies at the Riviera are 25th-ranked Julia Cohen (Miami), 26th-ranked Danielle Steinberg (Arizona), 27th-ranked Csilla Borsanyi (Baylor), 35th-ranked Yasmin Schnack (UCLA), 36th-ranked Lauren Lui (Northwestern), 38th-ranked Gabriela Niculescu (USC), and 41st-ranked Kirsten Flower (Ohio State).
While defending Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Tennis Championship winner Suzi Babos (Berkeley) had already graduated, reigning ITA National Intercollegiate Indoors Champion and No. 1-ranked Aurelija Miseviciute (Arkansas), as well as 2008 NCAA Singles Champion and 3rd-ranked Amanda McDowell (Georgia Tech), will be amongst those vying for honours at the All-American Championships, to be held at the Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.
Top-10 players Ani Mijacika (Clemson), Hilary Barte (Stanford), Amanda Fink (USC), Maria Mosolova (Northwestern), Marina Cossou (Berkeley), Lenka Broosova (Baylor), Fani Chifchieva (Auburn), and Sanaz Marand (North Carolina) will also be making their presence felt at the Riviera this week.