By Neil Schmidt
Enquirer staff writer

MASON - This was a family celebration, win or lose. And so Kara Molony-Hussey and sister Lyndsey Molony quickly digested their defeat and headed to the party.

Maria Molony had rented a tent at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open to surprise her husband, Kevin, on his 50th birthday Monday. There was plenty of pride for their daughters, regardless of the 6-0, 6-0 loss they absorbed to Jennifer Russell and Mara Santangelo.

"It was like a dream come true, to have our friends and family here cheering us on," Lyndsey said. "I just wish we could have given them more."

The Molonys, who have teamed to win five Thomas E. Price Metropolitan Championships, don't get to play together often. Their opponents play together weekly, and it showed.

"We could have played better, but they were just too good," Kara said. "... But it was so much fun to be in the center of that."

LIGHTWEIGHT: Marion Bartoli had a lot weighing on her mind. And elsewhere.

She got on the scale this winter and said was stunned to learn she had gained 33 pounds in a year.

The French 19-year-old got inspired and shed that weight in 21/2 months, getting down a bit below her listed weight of 128 pounds in the WTA media guide.

Bartoli, the fourth seed in singles here, credits her renewed fitness for a strong summer that has jumped her ranking from No. 72 to 56 in the past three months.

"I have the stamina now; I know I can stay out here three hours if I have to," she said after beating Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-3 Monday. "Before, I was able to play one set at a high level, but the second and the third I was every time losing easily, because I was not able physically to hang on."

Bartoli had reached a career-high ranking of No. 45 last summer but said she didn't realize she was gaining weight.

"My dad said to me, 'Watch out for your weight; you're beginning to take more and more,' " Bartoli said. "I said, 'You have bad eyes.'

"But then ... one day I go on the scale and I see my weight gain."

She said she combined a diet with lots of running.

Bartoli has gone 7-4 against top-100 players in her last five tournaments, including victories over three top-25 players.

QUALIFIERS: The four women who won final-round qualifiers Monday to gain main-draw entry were Italy's Adriana Serra Zanetti, Ukraine's Yuliana Fedak, China's Shuai Peng and France's Severine Beltrame.

Kelly McCain, the lone American in the final round of qualifying, lost to Serra Zanetti 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.

HARKLEROAD OUT: Ballyhooed American teen Ashley Harkleroad pulled out, citing personal reasons. Milagros Sequera of Venezuela also pulled out with a left foot sprain.

The two "lucky losers" added to the draw were France's Stephanie Foretz and Italy's Antonella Serra Zanetti, Adriana's sister.

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E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com