began that he would end up playing side by side with the 1993 French Open Doubles Champion

Luke Jensen (ESPN) this morning in the Mecco Cup “Battle of the Sexes.” Despite Jensen

jumping in as a substitute for Tournament Director Fernando Perez (Allentown, PA), the men

were defeated by their formidable opponents, Jamea Jackson (Bradenton, FL), who last year

was ranked the no. 43 singles player in the world, and Asia Muhammed (Las Vegas, NV), 6-5,

in a time-shortened pro set. The supportive crowd cheered for their favorites along “party lines”

based on gender. “The fans get to see the fun side of the pro game,” Jensen said. “A

congressman can see what it’s like to play against a pro.”

If 2006 singles finalist Carly Gullickson (Brentwood, TN) had won her first-round, main draw

match today, it would have likely led to a second-round rematch of the 2006 Mecco Cup final.

However, collegiate wild card Amanda Fink (Calabasas, CA) had other plans, defeating

Gullickson 7-5, 6-3. Having lost to Gullickson, 6-2, 6-0, in the first round here in 2006, Fink

realized coming into today’s match, “I had to get over my nerves of playing Carly.” By the same

token, Gullickson seemed to be having an off day, fighting a rash of unforced errors throughout

the match. “Two years ago, I was coming out here really, really nervous,” Fink said. “I think this

win is really going to help my confidence.”

She will need that confidence when she faces the

winner of tomorrow’s feature match at 10 AM between 2007 semifinalist Alexandra Mueller

(Abington, PA) and two-time Mecco Cup champion Varvara Lepchenko (Allentown, PA).

Lancaster, PA’s Lauren Nikolaus-Zink continued her remarkable run through the qualifying

draw, earning a berth in the main draw with her 6-4, 6-0 victory over Sofia Melikishvili, a player

who just two years ago was ranked as high as no. 259 in the world. At the age of 31, Zink is in

the midst of her best performance at a USTA $50k Pro Circuit event. Zink, who is a local

platform tennis champion, began training for the transition to traditional tennis just eight weeks

ago. As she moves forward into the main draw, Zink is not feeling any pressure, believing, “I

have nothing to lose.” Tomorrow afternoon, she’ll play Regina Kulikova (St. Petersburg,

Russia) on Westend’s Stadium Court.