King Advances to Main Draw

Making her first appearance at the Acura Classic as a player, 17-year-old Vania King of Long Beach defeated Croatia’s Ivana Lisjak, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (3), to advance to the main draw.

King had attended the tournament at the La Costa Resort and Spa before, but only as a fan. “Coming here (as a player) is a big step for me. Ever since I was a little girl, I would come here and watch Lindsay and Venus play,” King said. “It’s an amazing feeling. Just playing here is a dream come true.”

Last year she attempted to earn a wild card into the qualifying draw by playing in the Acura Classic Opportunity event in San Diego, but she fell short.

King and Lisjak fought for two-hours and 32 minutes on a warm, overcast day on Stadium Court before the American pulled out a narrow victory in a third-set tiebreaker.

There were a total of 12 service breaks with each player breaking serve six times. King served for the match in the third set at 5-3 but was broken when she double faulted on break point.

Serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Lisjak double faulted twice and fell behind 15-40 but eventually fought off a total of four match points in the game to hold serve and tie the set at 5-5.

Each player exchanged service breaks to send the match into a third-set tiebreak. King then jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker and wrapped up the victory on her fifth match point of the day when Lisjak sent a down the line forehand long.

“It was such a close match. It just comes down to a few points and who fights it out. It could have gone either way,” King said following her victory.

• King is making her Acura Classic debut.
• King recently represented the United States in Fed Cup play, where she lost to Belgium’s Kim Clijsters in singles and teamed with Jill Craybas to win the doubles point.
• King is ranked 78 in the world.
• King began playing tennis at age 4.
• King’s brother Phillip also plays professional tennis.
• King’s hobbies include singing, reading and cycling.
• In 2005, King became the third woman ever to enter US Open qualifying as a wild card and advance to win a main draw match.
• Lisjak is ranked 105 in the world.
• Lisjak was making her Acura Classic debut.
• Lisjak is a member of the Croatian Fed Cup team.
• Lisjak reached the third round of the 2006 French Open.

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