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Sports

Former Palm Desert High, College of the Desert Tennis Stars in BNP Paribas Open Pre-Qualifier

A total of 140 players to compete for two wild cards into qualifying draws, which begin Wednesday.

Giving the BNP Paribas Open truly a local vibe, former College of the Desert tennis standout Bruno Araujo and Palm Desert High graduates, brothers Chris and Kyle Bastardi will compete for the two remaining wild card slots.

Pre-Qualifier matches begin Wednesday and run through Sunday, March 6, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Competing for the two remaining wild cards into the BNP Paribas Open will be 140 players, 91 men and 49 women, including several players from in and around the desert area.

The BNP Paribas Open qualifying draws begin on Monday for the women and Tuesday for the men.

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The women’s draw is headlined by Sally Peers, from Australia, ranked No. 158 in the world. She qualified for the US Open last year reaching the second round, and this year she received a wild card into the Australian Open. She is joined in the field by a group of other up-and-coming players including Julia Boserup, El Modena High School junior Krista Hardebeck, Louisiana State All-American Megan Falcon, Asia Muhammed, former UCLA All-American Yasmin Schnack and Brittany Augustine.

On the men’s side the field is led by Roman Borvanov, from Moldova, who qualified for the ATP World Tour event in San Jose last month. In addition, Daniel Kosakowski, the No. 1 singles player at UCLA, and Brian Battistone, who participated in the US Open doubles tournament in 2010, join Borvanov in the field.

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Several local players will be competing in the event including former College of the Desert tennis standout Bruno Araujo, and Palm Desert High graduates, brothers Chris and Kyle Bastardi, Nick Cummins, Caerwyn Evans, Stefan Farrar, Jack Felich, Christian Fischer, Johnathon Florez-Cohen, Phil Holbrook, Brad Joelson, Aidan Koross, Adon Kronk, Cris Michel, Daniel Milliken, Leonardo Oricchio, Will Prim, Dalibor Ptak, Jimmy Roberts, Marcin Rozpedski, Alvie Sanchez, Alex Sandri, Rodrigo Schaefer, Andy Scorteanu, Ian Suwara, Jad Toukan, Brittany Blalock, Kaiulani Boyer, Desirae Krawczyki, and Regina Suarez.

Matches will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 2 – Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5 at 11 a.m. The women’s final will be on Sunday at 11 a.m. followed by the men at 1 p.m.

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