The WTA 250 ATX Open in Austin, Texas, kicked off on Monday with China’s Wang Yafan pulling off a 1st-round upset win over 4th-seeded Lucia Bronzetti from Italy, 7-6(5) 6-4, while Diane Parry, Yuan Yue, and Camila Ororio also advanced to round 2.
Wang won 81% of her first-serve points and saved 4 of the 5 break points she faced, but she failed to take advantage of 3 set points on Bronzetti’s serve at 5-4 in the first set, and then needed 2 more to wrap up the tiebreak, before a lone break in the second gave the Chinese a 3-2 lead, which she did not relinquish.
Although she was only broken twice, Bronzetti faced consistent pressure on her serve, with Wang having 12 break chances during the match.
In other opening-round action, 5th-seeded Diane Parry won an all-French match-up against qualifier Jessika Ponchet, 6-3 7-6(4), in a contest between rare one-handed backhands.
The 21-year-old fired 11 aces while not dropping serve in the 90-minute match, and Parry now leads their head-to-head 2-1.
The No 8 seed Yuan Yue from China battled from behind to defeat Australia’s Arina Rodionova in 3 sets.
After dropping the opener, Yuan won 9 of the final 10 games from 3-all in the second set to secure the 3-6 6-3 6-1 win.
Colombia’s Camila Osorio, the 2019 US Open Junior champion, routed Alizé Cornet, 6-3 6-2, improving her record against the Frenchwoman to 2-0.
Anhelina Kalinina is the No 1 seed for the first time on the WTA Tour in Austin this week, and faces qualifier Sara Bejlek in the 1st-round
© Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Former Top 10 American Danielle Collins continues her final WTA Tour season this week in Austin, Texas where she is seeded 3 in the 32-player draw.
A semi-finalist at the inaugural ATX Open, Collins, who has announced her intent to retire at the end of the season, is one of a trio of American seeds in Texas, joined by No 2 Sloane Stephens and No 7 Peyton Stearns.
Stearns returns to the ATX Open, where she won her first WTA Tour match and reached her first quarter-final last season.
An All-American for the University of Texas, Stearns led the Longhorns to back-to-back NCAA team titles while also claiming the 2022 singles crown, and is a home hope for this event.
Stearns is set to take on 3-time WTA title winner Anna Karolina Schmiedlova from Russia in her 1st-round encounter.
Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina is the No 1 seed at a WTA tournament for the first time in her career in Austin, and all the top 3 seeds play a qualifier in their opening rounds on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, former Texas state champion Fernanda Contreras takes on another American, Taylor Townsend, who has been a professional since her All-American time at Vanderbilt, although she took some time away from the game after the birth of her son Adyn.
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