Po Leaves Full-Time Tennis With Losses in Singles, Women’s Doubles

Kimberly Po’s full-time professional tennis career came to its apparent end Saturday when the Rolling Hills resident lost in singles and women’s doubles at the U.S. Open in New York City.

Po was eliminated in the singles by Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-2, 6-3, in a third-round match. Maleeva upset Martina Navratilova on Thursday.

In doubles, Po and partner Cammy MacGregor, a 1987 Palos Verdes High graduate, lost a second-round match to ninth-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain and Mercedes Paz of Argentina, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-2.

Po, who had also reached the third round of singles in last year’s Open, said last month that she will be retiring from tennis to return to UCLA as a student but said she might play in area tournaments to maintain a ranking.

In second-round mixed doubles, Lindsay Davenport, a 16-year-old from Palos Verdes, and Brian Dunn of Brandon, Fla., were defeated by fifth-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia and Tom Nijssen of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-2.

On Friday, Davenport lost her second-round singles match to fifth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, 6-2, 6-2, in a match suspended by rain Thursday after Sanchez Vicario took a 3-0 second-set lead.

In Friday’s other matches involving South Bay players, Jeff Tarango of Manhattan Beach was ousted in the second round by Arnaud Boetsch of France, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), and Jim Pugh of Rancho Palos Verdes and Pam Shriver lost their first-round mixed doubles match to eighth-seeded Australians Rachel McQuillan and David Macpherson, 6-3, 7-6.