Fishbein wins Longines Junior Challenge

Lauren Fishbein boasts an impressive international travel resume for a 12-year-old, having visited England, Spain, Portugal and Italy on family trips. But in June, the Livingston, N.J., native will get a “France” stamp added to her already well-worn passport. Fishbein won the Longines Junior Tennis Challenge in Queens, N.Y., on Saturday, and in doing so earned an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2010 French Open in Paris, where she will compete against girls from seven other nations as part of a championship event to be contested on June 3 and 4 at Roland Garros.

Fishbein defeated Gaby Pollner of White Plains, N.Y., 6-1, 6-1 in Saturday’s final to win the trip to Paris.

The 5-foot-7 Fishbein, who this year has been competing mostly in the 14-and-under-ranks, defeated Morgan Herrmann, the No. 1-ranked player in the Eastern Section, in the first round Saturday. Fishbein then dispatched with Alexa Graham in the semifinals before beating Pollner in the final.

Fishbein, who turns 13 in July, is a seventh grader at Livingston Heritage Middle School. The daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, she speaks decent Russian, says her mother, Nina. A former competitive Latin dancer who trained at a New Jersey academy owned by Maksim Chmerkovskiy (of “Dancing With the Stars” fame), Fishbein was forced to choose between dancing and tennis a couple of years ago, when competing in both disciplines became too much. She chose tennis. Cutting the dance competitions off the schedule lightened the load, although between school, tennis practice and tournaments, “I still live in the car,” Nina laughed.

Although the 11-year-old Pollner, a White Plains, N.Y., resident and a sixth grader at Rye Country Day School, did not win the chance to take her game to the terre battue of Roland Garros, her young career is not without international highlights. Last summer, on a trip to Wimbledon with her grandparents, Pollner got to play on the grass lawns of London’s exclusive Queens Club. (Her father has a friend who’s a member.) And for their efforts on Saturday, Pollner and Jessica Livianu, who defeated Herrmann in the consolation bracket final, both won 2010 U.S. Open tickets.

As for Fishbein, she now prepares for the global competition, to be held late in the second week of the French Open. The winners of the girls’ and boys’ competitions earn the chance to hit with former Roland Garros champions Mary Pierce and Gustavo Kuerten prior to the women’s final on June 5.

Regardless of how she fares in that event, Fishbein doesn’t expect to be fazed by the experience of competing abroad. Asked if she had ever before been to the city of lights, Fishbein replied, with a somewhat world-weary sigh, “I’ve been everywhere but Paris."

Abigail Lorge is the managing editor of TENNIS.com.