TEMPLETON, September 26, 2024 (by Steve Pratt)
A seven-time singles winner on the ITF World Tennis Tour, Elli Mandlik is looking forward to a strong week at the sixth annual EPIC Central Coast Tennis Classic and would like nothing more than a possible return to a world top 100 ranking.
On Wednesday in the women’s $60,000 tournament taking place at the Templeton Tennis Ranch, the No. 5 seeded 23-year-old Mandlik beat her Florida training partner unseeded Victoria Hu, 6-4, 6-2, in one of four matchups of American vs. American players
“We know train with each other in Delray Beach so I was familiar with her game style,” said Mandlik, who lives in Boynton Beach, Fla., and is the daughter of four-time Grand Slam champion Hana Mandlikova. “It’s always a little bit tough playing in the first round.”
This is Mandlik’s first trip to the Central Coast of California and she is being coached this week by Bolivia’s Sebastian Eguez from Seba Tennis who she has spent the past four years with.
Mandlik said it’s been an up and down year as she is returning from three and a half months off the circuit with an injury. She briefly broke into the world top 100 15 months ago.
The tournament lost its No. 3 seed Ena Shibahara of Japan, who fell to Canadian Katherine Sebov, 6-0, 7-6 (4). Seeded players moving on besides Mandlik included No. 4 Kayla Day from Santa Barbara, No. 6 Gabriela Andrea Knutson (Czechia) and No. 7 American Louisa Chirico.
In one of the better matches of the day, former UCLA All-American Robin Anderson outlasted Russian Maria Kozyreva, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-5. The New Jersey native Anderson, 31, recalled after the match playing Templeton in its first year in 2017 and again in 2018 and said she looks forward to playing just three hours north of where she attended college. She has a tough task on Thursday when she meets top-seeded Renata Zarazua.
Unseeded American’s Katrina Scott, Sophie Chang and Usue Arconada all moved into the Round of 16 with straight-set wins.
The event is open to the public; tickets start at $25 and are available at www.centralcoasttennisclassic.com, where you can also find news and updates on the tournament.
