Kirkland, the top seed among 192 players, dominated the singles portion of the United States Tennis Association Girls 18 Hardcourt Championships and earned the gold ball and an automatic entry into the U.S. Open in New York next month.

In 10 matches at Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club and the Almaden Valley Athletic Club courts, Kirkland never lost a set. She was one of six professionals taking advantage of recent USTA rules changes that now allow age-eligible professional athletes to compete in national championships.

More than 200 of the nation's best junior girls competed in the singles or doubles tournaments Aug. 8-15.

Audra Cohen of Florida and Riza Zalameda from Los Angeles won the doubles tournament. In the title match Cohen and Zalameda, the second seeded team, defeated the No. 3 unit, Lindsay Burdette of Georgia and Alexa Glatch from Newport Beach, Cal.

One of the teams that Cohen and Zalameda defeated en route to the doubles title was Cupertino resident Tiffany Lee and Saratoga's Alexandra Lipton, a senior at Monta Vista High. Lee and Lipton won their first match, 6-4, 6-1, over Ashley Globerman of New York and Natalie Newman of Minnesota, but couldn't win a single game against the talented Cohen-Zalameda tandem.

Lee, a Menlo School graduate who will play next spring for UC-Berkeley, also competed in the singles event. After losing her opener against Sophie Grabinski of Indiana in three sets, Lee bounced back to win two of three matches in the consolation bracket. She defeated Lisa Solomon of Texas and Katia Babina of Illinois in straight sets, before losing to Sarah Lancaster of Texas.

Other area players were Lejla Hodzic, Jennifer Lu and Carmen Seremeta of Cupertino, Stephanie Schnitter and Myra Davoudi of San Jose and Serena Lin of Saratoga.

Hodzic, who will play at Stanford in the spring, teamed with Tracy Lin of Anaheim as the ninth seed. The duo won two matches before losing a three-set match in the quarterfinals.

Hodzic and Lin beat Lauren Little of Michigan and Mallory Voelker of Wisconsin, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, and Maria Anisimova of New Jersey and Magdalena Bresson of Florida, 6-2, 6-2. They jumped out in front of the fourth-seeded team of Vania King of Long Beach and Yasmin Schnack, taking the first set 6-4, before bowing 6-3, 6-3.

Serementa and Lu competed in the singles and doubles draws. Serementa won two of her four singles matches, topping Mackenzie White of Alabama and Stephanie Galainena of Illinois in straight sets. Serementa, teaming with Andrea Phillips of Castro Valley, won one doubles match before losing to the top seed.

Davoudi, a recent Leland graduate who will continue her career at Santa Clara University, played doubles with Samantha Georgino of Bakersfield. The Davoudi-Georgino tandem won its first match in three sets over Courtney Akel of Arkansas and Lauren Strasburger of Tennessee, but lost to the No. 3 seed in straight sets.

Local singles tennis stars Kelly Lamble, Zoe De Bruycker, Lindsey Marsh and John Lamble shined bright at the United States Tennis Association West Coast Junior Championships recently.

Kelly Lamble and De Brucker both won four matches in the Girls 14 division, before squaring off in the championship match. Marsh was part of the winning Girls 14 doubles team and John Lamble captured the Boys 12 crown.

DeBruycker won the first set 7-5, but Lamble bounced back big time claiming the second set, 6-0, to force a third set. Lamble, who entered the tourney seeded third out of a field of 37, won the final set 6-1.