The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

After falling short in her first two tournaments in her return to the United States, Kerrie Cartwright booked her ticket to the main draw of the $15,000 Hilton Head Island in the first of three consecutive tournaments in South Carolina this month.

The only Bahamian female player competing on the pro circuit pulled off a 6-1, 6-2 win over Daniella Silva from Canada in the third and final round of the qualifying round yesterday to clinch her berth into the main draw that starts today.

Cartwright, who won her first round match 6-4, 6-3 over Ali Despain of the United States and 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-3 over Dagmar Zdrubecka of the Czech Republic in the second round, will now play American Ann Li in her first main draw appearance since returning from her tour of Europe.

She also had double duties yesterday as she teamed up with Kariann Pierre-Louis. The duo reunited after playing in a tournament in Les Contamines-Montioie, France where they lost in the final. Yesterday, they pulled off an identical 6-4, 6-4 win over the American pair of Najah Dawson and Alycia Parks.

Cartwright, 25, and Pierre-Louis, 18, will not be back on court again until Thursday when they face the No.2 seeded team of Paulina Czarnik of Poland and Laura Deigman of Great Britain in the quarter-final.

For now, Cartwright said she's just enjoying the ride.

"It's going really well," Cartwright told The Tribune. "I felt pretty good. I played a few young girls, but they were really good. They played really good, but I thought that if I would win, I need to stay on top of them and be more aggressive and just stay in the match the entire time. It went really well and I won the matches."

With the way she played so far, Cartwright is confident that she can step it up to the challenge when she takes on the more experienced players in the main draw.

"I think I played pretty good, so I want to go out and continue to play that way," she said.

"I just want to go into every day and every match with the same mentality to play my game and stay aggressive and enjoy myself out there."

At the beginning of September, Cartwright played in her first tournament in the USA in the $25,000 Redding Tournament in California where she got to the last round of qualifying in singles and in the first round in the main draw in doubles where she played alongside American Kat Facey.

She then played last week in the $25,000 Stillwater Tournament in Oklahoma where she again lost in the last round of qualifying in singles and teamed up with Facey again in doubles where they got ousted in the first round by the top seeds and eventual champions.

"It's good to be in the main draw," said Cartwright about the way she has played in her previous tournaments in the United States.

She will move to the $25,000 Sumter Tournament that starts on Monday, October 9 and then follow that with an appearance at the $25,000 Florence Tournament that is scheduled to start on Monday, October 16.