The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net ALTHOUGH she didn't win a game, Gabrielle Moxey noted that the experience gained in the qualifying round of the Bahamas Women's Open tennis tournament will have a lasting impact on her. Moxey, 18, was the lone Bahamian to play in the qualifying round that got started at the National Tennis Centre on Saturday. The third and final round, featuring the top eight seeds, is set for today before the main draw gets underway. In her match on Saturday as a wild card entry, Moxey lost 6-0, 6-0 to Liga Dekmeijere of Lat. Dekmeijere went on to lose to No.4 seed Gail Brodsky of the US yesterday. "It was a great opportunity to be able to play and to represent myself and my country," Moxey said. "For the first time, I think I did pretty good. I was shocked how the girls played compared to the juniors. "But I am grateful to (tournament organiser) Ty Olander for affording me the opportunity to play in the qualifying round. It was a very good experience for me." Moxey, who attends a tennis academy in Florida, said she just needs to continue to "work harder in practice, stay mentally strong" and she should be able to make the adjustment to the pro circuit. Through the first two rounds of the qualifying, all of the eight seeded players advanced to the final round for four spots into the main draw that will follow. Starting 10am today, top seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic is slated to face No.5 seed Sharon Fichman. American Coco Vandeweghe is scheduled to meet No.6 Catalina Castano of Colombia, No.3 Rika Fujiwara of Japan takes on No.7 Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier and Brodsky battles No.8 seed Valeria Solovieva of Russia. Brodsky, ranked at 194 in the world, is making her debut here in the Bahamas. But she noted that because of the laid back atmosphere, she feels like she's more on vacation rather than playing in a tournament. "It's going to be a really fun week, no matter what. I'm just really excited to be here," she said. "Obviously, the expectations are really high. You always want to go far as you can in a tournament. I have a really tough competitor. She's a really close friend of mine so it will be a really interesting match. But, anyway it goes, it's going to be good because I didn't have any expectations coming here." International Tennis Federation supervisor William Coffey said the tournament has gotten off to a great start and, if that is any indication, the week of the main draw should be exciting. "We got started with a lot of one-sided matches with the experienced player playing against the less-experienced players," he said. "Today (Sunday), we had a lot more closer matches and things are going very well. The top seed in the main draw is No.60 ranked Pauline Parmentier of France. The second seed is Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine, ranked at No.72. For the first time, the Bahamas is expected to have one player in the main draw. Simone Pratt has been awarded a wild card and is all set to play her first round match around 7pm today against No.4 seed Urszula Radwanska of Poland. Despite any financial support from the Bahamas Government, Olander said the tournament is off to a great start. He noted that he was particularly pleased with the Tournament Ball Saturday night. During the night, women's tennis legends Martina Navratilova and Zina Garrison were the special guests as 13 Bahamians were inducted into the Hall of Fame. They were Roger Smith, Kit Spencer, Kim O'Kelley, Leo Rolle, John Antonas, Giorgio Baldacci, Sterling Cooke, Jane Wiberg, Sandra Miller, Barrie Farrington, Vicky Knowles-Andrews, Edith Powell and Lady Edith Turnquest. Navratilova and Garrison were the only two of the five players originally tipped to be in town for a legends doubles match that was played prior to the opening ceremonies yesterday. Monica Seles, Mary Joe Fernandez and Jennifer Capriati never made it, according to Olander, indicating that they didn't make their financial commitments in time to get them in. As a result, Navratilova teamed up with local legend John Antonas while Garrison paired up with the ageless Leo Rolle in a special mixed doubles match yesterday. Navratilova and Antonas won the match in straight sets. Olander said despite the fact that they won't have all of the players in as advertised, he's still pleased with the way the tournament is shaping up. He encourages the public to come out today to witness high level tennis as the main draw gets started. In the doubles main draw, the Bahamian team of Nikkita fountain and Grand Bahamian Larikah Russell have once again received a wild card entry. The duo played together in the initial tournament and fell short of advancing out of the first round. They have vowed to go further this year when they start playing tomorrow.