Former Tiger Julie Coin Advances In 2009 French Open

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PARIS, FRANCE - Former Clemson women's tennis player Julie Coin won a singles match at the French Open for the first time in her professional career on Sunday as she defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain in the opening round. Coin, a native of Amiens, France, also made the field in doubles where she and country mate Severine Bremond Beltrame posted a first-round win on Tuesday.

Although Coin played in the qualifying rounds in previous Roland Garros events, this year marks the first time she earned a draw in the main tournament. With her win on Sunday, Coin has now recorded a victory in three straight Grand Slam events. She made tennis history last August with her upset of then-ranked #1 Ana Ivanovic in the US Open and reached the third round of the tournament. Coin then won her first match at the 2009 Australian Open in January. She is ranked 70th in the most recent Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Rankings and has a 13-10 record for the 2009 season.

Coin and Beltrame defeated Sarah Borwell of Great Britain and Maria Kondratieva of Russia in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Her win over Llagostera Vives was also in two sets (7-5, 6-2). Coin will face Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round.

Coin led Clemson to back-to-back NCAA Final Four appearances in 2004 and 2005 and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championships in 2004. She was ranked as high as #2 in the ITA Tennis poll during the 2005 season and earned All-America status three times over her career. Coin also helped the Tigers claim the 2004 ACC Championship and was named the conference Player-of-the-Year that season.

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