Sandy Gumulya qualifies into main draw

Currently world ranked 262, Sandy Gumulya, and placed as first seeded at "Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital Tennis Classic" in Ashland, Kentucky, eventually she cruised into the main draw. In the first round of qualifying, Gumulya denied the challenge of 18 years old Croat, Ana Savic and won 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1. She made another victory in the second round of qualifying when she defeated an Egyptian Heidi El Tabakh who is now playing for Canada, 6-4, 6-0. Yesterday, she completed her final qualifying with impressive win over sixth seeded, Maria Fernanda Alvarez Teran from Bolivia, 6-2, 6-1.

In the main draw of this tourney with total prize money of US $ 50,000 - Gumulya is scheduled to play against 25 years old Neuza Silva from Portugal. Silva is currently ranked 173 in the world and is enjoying the best season of her career so far. As qualifier, she sailed through all the way to quarter-final at Monzon 75K in Spain last April. She has collected two singles' titles of 25K in Felixstowe, Great Britain and Vigo, Spain. She played all four grand slams this year and her best outcome was reaching final qualifying at US Open.