Francisco Rodriguez feels like a young 26 on the rise, although that qualifies him as somewhat of a senior citizen in the field competing at the Pro Circuit $10,000 Men's Futures of Pittsburgh.
Most of the players who began play yesterday at the Mt. Lebanon Tennis Center are in their early 20s, looking to make a quick score on the Futures, then moving up to the $50,000 Challenger events.
"My time is coming," said top-seeded Rodruguez, who defeated recent Harvard graduate Mark Riddell, 6-0, 6-4, in the first round. "I can improve, I haven't peaked yet. I could be playing Challengers right now. I can play with those guys."
But Rodriguez has yet to qualify for the main draw in a Challenger tournament this year. Ranked No. 408 in the world, Rodriguez, a native of Paraguay and a two-time All-American at the University of Alabama, is the highest-ranked player in the tournament. Rodriguez is a member of the Paraguay's Davis Cup team that recently defeated Brazil and will meet the Czech Republic in the next round.
"I've been on and off," he said of his game. "I haven't been playing well lately, but I feel better and am hitting it well. A lot of it is mental."
Rodriguez, who was seeded No. 1 and lost in the semifinals last week in a Futures event in Buffalo, N.Y., enjoys the clay because he grew up playing on that surface.
"I can run on this stuff," he said. "It fits my game very well."
Rodriguez took a year's break from tennis after graduating from college but he found he "missed it too much."
"I'm going to give it two or three more years. I'm giving myself a chance. If it doesn't work out, I can always go back to school and get my MBA."
Clay Court Championships
Defending champ and top seed Kelly Baritot, a North Allegheny High School graduate and junior at the University of Texas, led six players with district ties into the quarterfinals, She beat Paula Schmidt, 6-1, 6-0. Other district players who advanced were Leah Friedman, a three-time City League champion from Allderdice , No. 3 Alison Riske an eighth-grader from Peters Township, No. 6 Kim Whelan of North Allegheny, Shayna Miller of Upper St. Clair and No. 7 Jacqueline Hughes of McKeesport and Duquesne University.
First Published: July 8, 2004, 4:00 a.m.