Puchkova collects victory

By Whitey Reid

Published: May 1, 2008

Attention University of Virginia athletes (male ones): Olga Puchkova would love an autographed jersey.
Puchkova, the No. 2 seed at this week’s Boyd Tinsley USTA Women’s Pro Tennis Championships, is an avid collector.
The Russian bombshell, who is friends with a host of NHL players - she says she was once engaged to Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin - has decorated her house with jerseys from athletes who play all over the world.
On Thursday afternoon at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, Puchkova advanced to the tournament’s quarterfinals when her opponent, Heidi El Tabakh, retired in the first set because she was under the weather.
Puchkova, who was leading 4-3 when El Tabakh called it quits, likes the way she has been playing lately. With No. 1 seed Stephanie Dubois’ loss on Wednesday, Puchkova is the highest remaining seed still alive.
“I don’t want to say that I can win this tournament,” Puchkova said. “I’m not going to say that. Just every day I want to better than yesterday.”
In other second-round matches, 2007 tournament finalist Brenda Schultz-McCarthy was upended by Kimberly Couts, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, while third-seeded Yanina Wickmayer and fourth-seeded Bethanie Mattek both advanced with relatively easy straight set wins.
One of the most entertaining matches of the day was a three-set thriller between Alexis Gordon and Abigail Spears. Two of the three sets went to tiebreakers before Gordon pulled out the win.
Gordon, a Florida graduate who has only been on the tour a few months, was pleased with her performance.
“This was probably one of my bigger wins,” said Gordon, who is ranked No. 640 in the world. “It was a good win for me because she’s a very good player.
“My goal is to get into the 300s by the end of the year, so maybe I can get into main draws instead of having to try and qualify [for events].”
Gordon returned serve very well against Spears.
“Just trying to get the ball back on the court and keep it low and kind of keep it out of her hitting zone were [the keys],” Gordon said.
Today at 10 a.m., Gordon will take on Alexandra Podkolzina, who easily defeated former Wimbledon semifinalist Alexandra Stevenson.
Gordon and Podkolzina actually played against each other in college when Gordon was at Florida and Podkolzina was at Cal. Gordon won, but that was over three years ago.
In the match that follows, Puchkova will take on Anna Tatishvili. Puchkova says she may have played Tatishvili when they were juniors but couldn’t recall who won.
Truth be told, Puchkova, who has balanced her tennis career with one in modeling - she has her own website at http://www.poutchkova.com - seemed more concerned about obtaining an autographed jersey.
“I love jerseys,” Puchkova said. “If anybody can give them to me, I would be so thankful.”