University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) standout Riza Angela Zalameda, Denise Dy, Anja Vanessa Peter and Czarina Mae Arevalo – who will represent the country in the forthcoming SEA Games – are expected to face tough challenge in the 13-nation event sanctioned by the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund.
Zalameda, who was born in the US to Filipino parents Rollie and Angie, is currently ranked No. 852 in the world and is seeded No. 6 in the tournament behind Korean LyooSuh Hee Sun (697), Briton Rebecca Fong (708), Korean Lee Jin-A (741), Thai Pichittra Thongdach (762) and Taiwanese Chen Yi (776).
Other seeds are Korean Kim Hae-Sung (873), Britons Natasha Khan (902) and Georgie Stoop (904), Taiwanese Chen LuLing (970) and Koreans Bae Hae-Yourn (990) and Lim Sae-Mi (994).
Dy, Peter and Arevalo, who saw action in the Federation Cup last April, will have to play in the qualifying scheduled Nov. 6-7 to make the 32-man main draw.
"I’m confident that we have good players in the national team and I would like to invite our countrymen to cheer and support them," said Jean Henri Lhuillier, who was recently appointed manager of both the RP men’s and women’s tennis teams.
Nineteen-year-old Zalameda, honored as 2004 Player of the Year by the Los Angeles Times, reached the singles quarterfinals of two US$10,000 tournaments in Indianapolis and Baltimore last July. She also made the semis doubles in Alabama, New Mexico and Baltimore.
The 16-year-old Dy, whose family migrated to Los Angeles, won one singles and two doubles titles in the ITF Juniors held in Manila last month.
Twenty-year-old Arevalo, singles and doubles champion in the Guam International Open last May, just got back from a three-month training in India.
Peter, who has a German father, has returned to Subic after playing in a series of tournaments in Europe.
