Po Knows Who She’ll Face at Wimbledon

Kimberly Po of Rolling Hills didn’t exactly get the luck of the draw in the Wimbledon pairings, but it could have been worse.

Po, 88th on the Virginia Slims rankings, will meet No. 83 Rene Simpson-Alter of Canada in the tournament’s first round, organizers announced this week. The winner of that match is expected to play nine-time singles champion Martina Navratilova in the second round.

This will be the first time Po, 20, has played singles in Wimbledon’s main draw, but not her first singles appearance in a Grand Slam tournament. The former Miraleste High and UCLA standout reached the third round of last year’s U.S. Open and this year’s Australian Open and was a first-round loser in the French Open in May.

In first-round matches involving players with South Bay ties, fifth-seeded Pete Sampras, a former Palos Verdes High standout, will meet Andrei Cherkasov of Russia, and Jeff Tarango of Manhattan Beach will play Christo Van Rensburg of South Africa.