NY girl throws out a challenge

By Tanya Paolucci
Updated November 7 2012 - 3:06am, first published November 30 2009 - 10:41am
Jennifer Elie
Jennifer Elie

THE William Loud Bendigo International Tennis Tournament has lived up to its name, attracting professional players from all over the globe.One player who has made the journey down under is American Jennifer Elie, whose punishing forehand and exciting style of play is set to challenge some of the big names in the Pro Tour tournament.The 23-year-old New Yorker has been a regular on the Pro Tour circuit this year, travelling to Darwin, Mt Gambier, Port Pirie, Esperance and Kalgoorlie before arriving in Bendigo this week.After a slow start on the circuit, Elie has recently found form, narrowly losing to Jessica Moore in the quarterfinal at the Goldfield St Ives International in Kalgoorlie and challenging Alicia Molik in the semi-final of the Cliffs Esperance Tennis International. “The first few places I didn’t do too well, but I started doing better in Esperence and Kalgoorlie,” she said yesterday.“I qualified and reached the semis in Esperance and then qualified and reached the quarters (final) in Kalgoorlie.“Hopefully I can do it again in Bendigo.”Elie is on track after a solid performance over Australian Azra Hadzic in her qualifying match yesterday.There were many strong rallies between the players, but Elie’s strong return of serve and punishing forehand was too much for her opponent, taking out the match 7-5, 6-2. The American will face fifth seed Erika Sema in the opening round of the main draw today.Elie, who says she feels confident about her form, is not getting ahead of herself and is approaching every opponent with caution.“I’m hoping to win one match at a time,” she said.“Everybody here is good.“And everybody is going to be tough to play.”

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