Ashley Harkleroad News

When Aces general manager Dani Apted unabashedly proclaims, "I drafted a good-lookin' team," she's referring to the players' appearance as much as their prowess on the court.

He sat in the upstairs pavilion, overlooking the No. 1 court at the Westgate Tennis Center as Lindsay Lee-Waters battled Chieh-Yu Hsu in a qualifying match Sunday afternoon in the Movie Gallery Pro Classic women's tennis tournament.

Melanie Oudin did not reach the Family Circle Cup semifinals as Ashley Harkleroad did in 2003 as a popular upstart teen from Georgia, but the 17-year-old qualifier from Marietta, Ga., had lots of crowd support.

Since its inception in 2002 the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament has seen huge crowds thrilled by International stars such as Bjorn Borg, Novak Djorkovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Ashley Harkleroad, Martina Navratilova, Goran Ivanisevic, Ivan Ljubicic, Marat Safin, Paradorn Schrichaphan, Pat Cash, Illie Nastase, Mansour Bahrami, Henri Leconte, ...

Backcourt Baby News Another first for Ashley Harkleroad, the first professional tennis player to pose for a nude pictorial in Playboy : According to online reports, Harkleroad and her coach and fiancA© Chuck Adams welcomed their first child, a baby boy weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces, on March 25.

One thing that hasn't changed much -- other than the players, of course -- is the annual, month-long city tournament each May at what is now known as the Arthur L. Allen Tennis Center.

Ashland's Julie Ditty has a new home for the 2009 World Team Tennis season. Newport Beach Breakers selected Ditty in the second round this week during the WTT's annual draft.

Jamea Jackson perhaps won't fill many pages in the annals of tennis history, but in one regard the U.S. player who's 260th in the world ranking will always be first: She opened the instant-replay era with an unsuccessful challenge.

Ashley Harkleroad reached the round of 16 at Indian Wells last March. Before the month is out, Harkleroad may be a mom.

Dinara Safina can see the summit and opens Indian Wells aiming to climb closer to the rankings peak.

Alla Kudryavtseva can defeat heralded tennis pro Maria Sharapova, but she can't seem to escape her.

Posted by John Paulsen - SPORTSBYBROOKS has advance photos of SI's upcoming swimsuit issue, which includes a few shots of tennis player Daniela Hantuchova .

This article is part of On the Baseline's 2009 Players to Watch Series . Please join us for a special look at several rising and resurgent stars on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.