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Friday, September 1
 
Foundation enters its fifth year

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Six people whose lives have been affected by brain tumors have been awarded college scholarships from the Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation Scholarship Program, thanks to the generosity of tennis stars Pete Sampras and Corina Morariu.

The recipients are Kristie Bullock of Munster, Ind.; James N. Huber of Durham, N.C.; Jacob Kratz of Elkhorn, Wis.; Zachary Mann, Newport of N.C.; Adam Staron of Farmington, Conn.; and Jeffrey Welch of Greenville, S.C.

The program is the latest undertaking of the foundation, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. It was founded in 1995 by the Gullikson twins, Tim and Tom, after Tim was diagnosed with brain tumors.

Morariu donated the seed money for the program, which was augmented by a grant from Sampras, who is a board member of the foundation.

The scholarships are given to brain tumor patients, their survivors or children of brain tumor patients and survivors.

At the time of his death, Tim Gullikson was Sampras' coach.

Stars and stripes
Ten American women reached the third round of the U.S. Open this year, the most to get that far in America's premier tennis tournament since 1989.

In 1989, there were 11 Americans in the third round of the women's single.

Batter up
Monica Seles went to Yankee Stadium on Friday where she took batting practice with Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and the rest of the home team before its game with the Minnesota Twins.

Sister act
Venus and Serena Williams are the eighth sister combination to compete in the main draw of the U.S. Open during the professional era.

The others were Chris and Jeannie Evert, Laurie and Robin Tenney, Marcie and Maureen (Peanut) Louie, Barbara and Kathy Jordan, Suzy and Andrea Jaeger, Anne and Elizabeth Minter, and Manuela, Katerina and Magdalena Maleeva.

No easy return
Martina Navratilova's first U.S. Open in five years hasn't exactly been a string of easy matches.

The left-hander teamed with Rick Leach on Friday night to get past Alexandra Stevenson and Brian MacPhie 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) in a first-round mixed doubles encounter.

On Thursday, Navratilova and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario won their first-round women's doubles match, outlasting Sabine Appelmans and Linda Wild 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

Navratilova, inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in July, has ended her five-year retirement to play doubles in selected tournaments.

On Saturday, Navratilova and Sanchez-Vicario are scheduled to play Jennifer Capriati and Anna Kournikova in Arthur Ashe Stadium. That will make Navratilova the only player to have played in the main stadium at the West Side Tennis Club, Louis Armstrong Stadium and Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Next question, please
When Hyung-Taik Lee upset 13th-seeded Franco Squillari of Argentina, he became the first Korean to reach the third round of the U.S. Open and ran his match winning streak to 10.

Since he also had won the GTI Bronx Challenger prior to entering the U.S. Open qualifying, reporters covering the Grand Slam tournament asked for a post-match press conference with Lee.

Unfortunately, the interview was canceled when the two writers in attendance did not speak Korean and Lee speaks no English.

Cutting it short
After Jennifer Capriati won her third-round match, defeating Adriana Gersi of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3, she wanted to watch a little tennis.

"Jennifer's boyfriend is playing," reporters were told at the start of Capriati's post-match news conference. "She'd like to keep this as short as possible."

"Obviously I think we just care about each other very much," Capriati said of her relationship with Xavier Malisse of Belgium. "I really don't want to talk about it, just kind of keep it private."

After Malisse lost 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) to Australian Richard Fromberg, he said he received a mental boost when he saw Capriati in the crowd.

"We're there for each other," he said. "She does her stuff, I do my stuff in the tennis. Behind the scenes, you know, we just do whatever we want to do. We help each other."

An extra day
The fifth largest professional tennis tournament in the world just got a little larger.

The Ericsson Open in Miami will expand from 11 to 12 days next year with the main draw starting on Wednesday, March 21. The women's final will be played on March 31 and the men's final on April 1.

"This extra day of tennis is good for players, good for fans," Butch Buchholz, tournament chairman, said. "Players will have additional recovery time between matches."






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