By Dave "KOZ" Kozlowski

(June 17,2011) Second seeded Lena Litvak, a Ukraine native who has had a career high ranking of 345 in July 2009 and played at Harvard before turning professional, defeated 19-year old Gaia Sanesti of Italy 7-5, 6-4. Litvak, who reached the semifinals of a $10,000 event in Venezuela in April and won the 2011 US Open National Playoffs New England Sectional Qualifying Tournament in May, lead a parade 6 Americans into the quarterfinals at the ResortQuest Pro Women’s Open at Sea Colony in Bethany Beach, DE.

Number one seed Maria Fernanda Alves of Brazil, the winner of 18 International Tennis Federation singles titles and 35 doubles titles and a career high WTA singles of 132 in 2005, was extended the distance before prevailing to defeat 16 year- old Floridian Kelsey Laurente 6-2 4-6, 6-4. In the longest match of the day Russian Angelina Gabueva edged out Li Xi of China 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the dirt ball marathon.


Round of 16 singles results
Maria-Fernanda ALVES (BRA) [1] def Kelsey LAURENTE (USA) 6-2 4-6 6-4
Kyle MCPHILLIPS (USA) [8] def Dianne HOLLANDS (NZL) 6-3 3-6 6-3
Alexa GUARACHI (USA) def Molly O'KONIEWSKI (USA) 6-1 6-1
Angelina GABUEVA (RUS) [3] def Li XI (CHN) 6-3 4-6 7-5
Katrine Isabel STEFFENSEN (USA) def Nika KUKHARCHUK (RUS) [5] 1-6 6-2 6-4
Lena LITVAK (USA) [2] def Gaia SANESI (ITA) 7-5 6-4
Denise STARR (USA) def Katie RUCKERT (USA) [4] 4-6 6-4 6-4
Chanelle VAN NGUYEN (USA) [6] def Veronica M. CORNING (USA) 6-1 1-0 Ret.

Quarter-Final Doubles
Maria-Fernanda ALVES (BRA) / Angelina GABUEVA (RUS) def Dianne HOLLANDS (NZL) / Simone KALHORN (USA) 6-2 6-3
Alexandra HIRSCH (USA) [2] / Lena LITVAK (USA) def Paulina BIGOS (POL) / Jessica LAWRENCE (USA) 5-7 6-4 [10-4]
Kelsey LAURENTE (USA) / Nicole ROBINSON (USA) def Alexis DORR (USA) / Alexa GUARACHI (USA) 6-3 6-1
Kyle MCPHILLIPS (USA) [4] / Chanelle VAN NGUYEN (USA) def Molly O'KONIEWSKI (USA) / Li XI (CHN) 6-1 7-5

The ResortQuest Pro Women’s Open at Sea Colony is the first professional tennis event to come to Bethany Beach, Del., and will be the first tournament held in the state of Delaware since a USTA Pro Circuit $50,000 women’s event was held in Wilmington in 1996. The ResortQuest Pro Women’s Open is the first of three consecutive $10,000 clay court tournaments during the month of June (joining Cleveland and Buffalo, N.Y.).

The quarter-final round of singles & the semi-final round of doubles will begin Friday June 17 at the Sea Colony tennis center.

Up-to-date scoring and tournament info are available on SeaColonyTennis.net or on Twitter at #ProSC