Top seed Van Uytvanck quits Kentucky match

Alison Van Uytvanck plays in the semifinals of the $50,000
Stockton Challenger two weeks ago. She went on the win the
title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Jamie Loeb's path to the title in the $50,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships and a wild card into the U.S. Open got easier on Friday.
   Top-seeded Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium retired from her quarterfinal against Arina Rodionova of Australia with an ankle injury. Rodionova led 4-2 in the first set at the time in Lexington.
   Van Uytvanck, a French Open quarterfinalist last year who underwent ankle surgery this past spring, won the $50,000 Stockton Challenger two weeks ago.
   In today's semifinals, Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands will face Jovana Jaksic of Serbia at 2 p.m. PDT, and Loeb of Ossining, N.Y., will meet Rodionova not before 4 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live at usta.com.
   Loeb must win the title to beat out Sofia Kenin of Boca Raton, Fla., in the U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge. Kenin, 17, won last week's $50,000 Sacramento Challenger.
   In the Kentucky doubles semifinals, unseeded Americans Sophie Chang and Alexandra Mueller knocked off top-seeded An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium and Modesto product Maria Sanchez 6-3, 6-4.