Sacramento-area pair to play U.S. Open mixed doubles

The Sacramento-area team of Yasmin Schnack,
above, and Eric Roberson earned a berth in the
main draw of mixed doubles at the U.S. Open.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Yasmin Schnack and Eric Roberson succeeded this time.
   The Sacramento-area pair defeated Stephanie Wetmore and Matthew Brooklyn, both of Washington, D.C., 6-1, 6-4 Saturday to win the mixed doubles title in the U.S. Open National Playoffs at New Haven, Conn.
   Schnack, from Elk Grove in the Sacramento area, and Roberson of Sacramento earned an automatic berth in the U.S. Open mixed doubles main draw, which begins Wednesday in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
   They reached the mixed doubles final in the inaugural national playoffs in 2011, falling in a super tiebreaker to Christina Fusano and David Martin.
   Fusano, a Sacramento native, won the 2003 NCAA women's doubles title with Cal teammate Raquel Kops-Jones, now ranked 13th in the world in that event.
   Martin reached the 2002 NCAA men's doubles final with Stanford teammate Scott Lipsky, now ranked 26th in that category.
   The 25-year-old Schnack will appear in the main draw of a Grand Slam adult tournament for the second time and Roberson, 27, for the first.
   Schnack and her best friend, Vania King, lost in the first round of women's doubles at Wimbledon last year to eighth-seeded Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.
   King won the Wimbledon and U.S. Open women's doubles titles in 2010 with Yaroslava Shvedova.
   Schnack helped UCLA win the NCAA team title in 2008, graduated in sociology in 2010 and reached a career-high No. 140 in the world in women's doubles in June 2012. However, she retired last September and plans to begin nursing school in the fall. Her father, William, is a retired physician.
   Roberson earned all-conference honors at Boise State (2004-08).