Ex-Stanford star Ahn falls in 50K Lexington

Kristie Ahn, shown in last week's Sacramento
Challenger, lost to qualifier Greet Minnen on
Thursday in the Lexington (Ky.) Challenger.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Qualifier Greet Minnen of Belgium defeated ex-Stanford star Kristie Ahn 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday in the second round of the $50,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships in Lexington.
   Ahn, 24, reached the quarterfinals of last week's $50,000 Sacramento Challenger.
   Minnen will play Jamie Loeb of Ossining, N.Y., in today's quarterfinals. Loeb, the lone remaining American in singles, upset fourth-seeded Lin Zhu of China 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
   Lexington is the last of three tournaments in the U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge. The American who earns the most points in two of the three tourneys -- Stockton, Sacramento and Lexington -- will receive a wild card into the main draw at Flushing Meadows, Aug. 20-Sept. 11.
  Seventeen-year-old Sofia Kenin, the Sacramento champion, will receive the wild card unless Loeb wins the Lexington title to pass Kenin in the standings.
   In the doubles quarterfinals, top-seeded An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium and Maria Sanchez of Los Angeles advanced by walkover. Sanchez, 26, was born and raised in Modesto.
   Sanaz Marand and Melanie Oudin of the United States beat CiCi Bellis, 17, of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area and Loeb 7-6 (6), 6-1.