Rubin easily beat Danilo Ferraz (Bra) 6-2 6-1 to move through to the second round of the Futures tournament at Guayaquil, Ecuador. Rubin plays Juan-Andres Gomez (Ecu) next.

Marina Erakovic has drawn Hilary Barte from the USA in the first round of qualifying at the US Open in New York.  This will be Marina’s last opportunity to qualify for a major this year after failing to do so at the Australian, French and Wimbledon events.  Marina came awfully close to qualifying at the US Open in 2005 and will be trying to go one better  this time.

GD Jones qualified for a Men’s Futures tournament in Vienna, Austria and has won his first round match in the main draw.  GD took three sets to subdue Andrea Fava (Ita) 6-3 4-6 6-4 to set up a second round clash against Matthias Feitsch (Aut).

Twelve year old Tanya Samodelok has convincingly won the Lapperre Young Champions Cup in Belgium. Seeded sixth at the Category 1 European Tour event, Tanya destroyed third seed Karyna Alesha (BLR) 6-2 6-1 in a one-sided final. The tournament in Belgium is one of five events on the Young Stars Circuit. Auckland Tennis congratulate Tanya, and her coach John McMahon, for a remarkable performance at such a prestigious tournament.

Sixth seed Tanya Samodelok has reached the singles final of the Lapperre Young Champions Cup in Belgium. Tanya stopped second seed Polina Leykina (Rus) 6-1 6-4 in the quarters before subduing fourth seed An-Sophie Mestach (Bel) 7-6 6-1 in the semis. Tanya had split victories with Mestach in recent weeks so it was satisfying for the young quasi-Auckland junior to move ahead 2-1 in the head-to-head contest on Mestach’s home turf. In the final, Samodelok strikes third seed Karyna Alesha (Blr), but win or lose, Tanya has quite clearly proven that she is a player with enormous potential.

Sacha Jones lost 6-4 7-5 to sixth seed Neuza Silva (Por) in the second round of the US$25000 tournament at Coimbra, Portugal.  Sacha beat Silva last week in Spain but this time was unable to beat the girl from Portugal in her home land.

Tanya Samodelok easily slid through to the quarter-finals of the Lapperre Young Champions Cup in Belgium with a resounding 6-2 6-1 win over tenth seed Catherine Chantraine (Bel).  She should face stiffer opposition in the quarters against second seeded Russian Polina Leykina.