Photograph by Jackie Lee of Texas Student Media
No. 4 Irene Burillo Escorihuela of Spain was the highest remaining seed as the first round of the H-E–B Women’s Pro Tennis Open ended Wednesday at the Texas Tennis Center. On a sunny but less scorching day in Austin, Burillo Escorihuela was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Alana Smith of Fort Washington, Maryland. In other first-round matches on Wednesday, Haruka Kaji of Japan upset No. 1 Ekaterina Makarova, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5, and Kayla Cross of Canada was a 6-3, 7-6(4) winner over No. 3 Alina Charaeva. No. 2 Anastasia Hikhonova lost on Tuesday.
“It was so hard,” the 30-year-old Kaji said afterward. “It was a tough match, but I’m happy to win today.”
One afternoon match didn’t need any seeds to attract attention. Caty McNally, a wild card here after an elbow injury and surgery sidelined her top 60 career, persevered for a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Victoria Mboko of Canada. McNally, a U.S. Open doubles finalist in 2022 and still just 22, depended on slice backhands for much of the match to approach the net or coax the 18-year-old Canadian into errors.
McNally let her emotions show at the end of the second set and at the start of the third, when Mboko had break points to take a 2-0 lead. “I want to do so well so I think that’s why I care so much,” McNally said with a smile after the match.
Qualifier VIvian Ovrootsky, a junior on UT-Austin’s team, defeated former H-E-B finalist Clervie Ngounoue, 6-4, 6-1, while sixth-seeded Lina Glushkom, Rinon Okuwaki and Karina Miller each took down Longhorns in the first round.
And perhaps not surprisingly, Whitney Osuigwe, a 22-year-old Floridian, was a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Thaisa Grana Pedretti, the 25-year-old Brazilian who survived a four-hour match yesterday to qualify for the main draw.