Top women’s seed advances at PNW Open, as do former Huskies
No. 1 seed Petra Rampre handled her Sammamish opponent, Michelle Wang, 6-2, 6-0, as the women’s draw started Wednesday at the Pacific Northwest Open at the Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club.
“She had a lot of variety in her game,” Wang said of Rampre. “And her drop shot was really good.”
Rampre is from Slovenia, but lives in Virginia. She has competed at the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon, all in doubles.
Wang is a 2015 graduate of Redmond High School and is going to play tennis next yearseason at Cornell University.
“She seemed really smart,” Rampre said of Wang. “I mean, she’s going to Cornell so she has to be pretty smart. If she just keeps working on her tennis game there, she can really good.”
Wang said that playing Rampre was a good experience for her because it taught her what she can work on.
“I feel like I should add some variety to my game as well after playing her,” Wang said.
Rampre is also competing in doubles at the PNW Open, and her next singles match will be at 10 a.m. Thursday against Arianna Fardanesh.
Former Huskies were represented strongly at the tournament Wednesday.
The No. 1 seed of the men’s draw, Robert Kendrick, who spent two years at the University of Washington before transferring, beat Matthew Alderson, 6-0, 6-0.
The No. 2 seed, Kyle McMorrow, a 2013 graduate of UW, defeated Jake Haffner, 6-0, 6-0.
Kendrick’s next match will be at 11:30 a.m. Thursday while McMorrow’s will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Tacoma native and fellow UW alum Max Manthou beat Lawrence Formentera, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Manthou, the No. 8 seed in the bracket, said he’s played in this event since he was 14.
“I love the environment of the PNW Open,” said Manthou, a graduate of Kentwood High School. “It’s by far my favorite tournament in the state.”
Manthou said he lives up the street from the tennis club and that he is soon leaving the country for two years to teach English in Indonesia as a Peace Corps volunteer.
“I want to make it farther than I ever have before here before I leave,” Manthou said.
Manthou’s next match will be at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
The No. 5 seed, 32-year-old Joel Kielbowicz of Scottsdale, Arizona, was almost upset by Theo McDonald, 14, of Bellevue.
Kielbowicz played tennis at UNLV and went professional after he graduated. McDonald, though, was not afraid of that professional label.
McDonald, a student at Bellevue High School, won the first set 7-6 and was fired up, pumping his fist throughout.
“I raised my playing level really high,” McDonald said. “I never gave up and didn’t care about the seeds.”
He lost the second set 6-2, and then lost the third set. 7-6. But he said it was nice to show that he can play with someone of Kielbowicz’s level.
“I wanted to show that age doesn’t matter,” McDonald said. “It just matters how hard you play.”
McDonald placed fourth last season in the Class 3A state tennis tournament and is considered a four-star recruit by tennisrecruiting.net.
“I want to win state the next three years of high school and be the best teammate I can be,” McDonald said.
This story was originally published July 22, 2015 at 9:32 PM with the headline "Top women’s seed advances at PNW Open, as do former Huskies."