USC Player Gets Back in Swing

Krissy Hamilton-Heinberg has packed a lot of tennis into her 20 years.

She won the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s Southern California sectional girls’ 18-and-under division as a 13-year-old in 1993 and played three years on the women’s pro tour by the time she graduated high school from Bridges Academy in Sherman Oaks.

Hamilton-Heinberg seemed destined to become one of the sport’s top players. Instead, she chose to pursue an education at USC and, when she suffered a shoulder injury two years ago, her future was uncertain.

Now, the Agoura Hills native finds herself back at the Ojai tournament, where she was last seen reaching the finals of the girls’ 18s in 1994.

Hamilton-Heinberg won two matches Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Ojai’s Pacific 10 Conference Invitational draw--a division one tier below the Pac-10 Championships reserved for the nation’s highest-ranked players.

She defeated former region standout Zuzana Stunova of Washington, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round Thursday morning at Villanova, a prep school on the outskirts of town. By her own admission, it was the best she has played since having shoulder surgery in March 1998 that forced her to miss most of her sophomore season.

“The surgery went well, but it’s been a struggle since then,” said Hamilton-Heinberg, who plays No. 6 singles at USC. “My rehab has taken a lot longer than planned, but I accumulated enough points to qualify here, so I wanted to give it a try. This is the best I’ve played in a long time.”

Stunova won consecutive Southern Section singles titles at Rio Mesa High in 1995 and 1996. Despite being two of the best junior players in Southern California, Stunova and Hamilton-Heinberg had never played each other.

“I know Zuzana is a good player, I just never played her because I never played in [the Southern Section],” said Hamilton-Heinberg, whose younger brother, Ryan, was among the top five players in the nation last year in the boys 16s. “I had so much fun playing on the tour. I mostly played satellite tournaments and challenger events.”

In the afternoon, Hamilton-Heinberg defeated Celena McCoury of Arizona State, 6-4, 6-2, and plays UCLA’s Elizabeth Schmidt today at the Ojai Valley Inn. She heads for the match with a healthy shoulder and a healthy attitude.

“It’s like I’m starting over completely,” she said. “I don’t have any expectations. I’m just going to take this one point at a time.”