Vandeweghe Advances at Mercury Insurance Open

Coco Vandeweghe's opening-round match at the Mercury Insurance Open at La Costa Resort took nearly two and a half hours on Monday, but the Rancho Santa Fe 19-year-old used a strong serve to score a 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3 win over Sorana Cirstea of Romania.

The tournament's top seed, Vera Zvonareva of Russia, gets into action on Tuesday evening with a match againt qualifier Jill Craybas of the U.S.

Vandeweghe's mother, Tauna, was an Olympic smimmer (1976) and volleyball player (1984). Her grandfather Ernie played for New York Knicks in 1950s and her uncle Kiki played basketball for UCLA and in the NBA.

In last year's event at La Costa, Vandeweghe had to play a qualifier to earn a spot in the main draw. She beat Zvonareva in the second round and went as far as the quarterfinals, where she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova, who ended up winning the title. She received a wild card entry into the main draw this year.

Mercury Insurance Open helpful links:

• Daily schedule
• Ticket information
• Live scoring
• Results and draws
• Directions/Parking