Hampton leads four American players into Lexus tennis tourney quarterfinals
Jamie Hampton is 21 years old, so she can legally try her luck while in town for the Lexus of Las Vegas Open tennis tournament at Red Rock Country Club.
"I'm down $34 right now," said Hampton, noting she tested out a $1 slot machine at the Suncoast. "It's a 21-year-old thing, I guess. I didn't know what I was doing. I just went down there and started pressing buttons, and it was gone."
Fortunately, she does know what she's doing on the tennis court, so she could recoup her losses and much more by winning the tournament. On Thursday, she was one of four Americans advancing to the quarterfinals, beating Sessil Karatantcheva, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
The tournament, part of the USTA Pro Circuit, has a $50,000 purse, with the singles winner netting $7,315.
Hampton will face Japan's Kurumi Nara at 10:30 a.m. today. Nara beat defending champ and No. 3 seed Varvara Lepchenko, 6-3, 6-0.
Americans Maria Sanchez and Allie Will, both wild cards, also advanced, as did veteran Alexa Glatch. Sanchez beat qualifier Krista Hardebeck 6-3, 6-2, Will led 7-5, 4-1 when No. 6 seed Edina Gallovits-Hall retired, and Glatch rallied past Timea Babos, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Glatch and Sanchez meet at 10:30 a.m. today in the opening match on stadium court, followed by Will's match against Romina Oprandi.
