Photo by Bella Ahearn for Texas Student Media
Now the real fun begins at the Greenview Development & Majestic Realty Men’s Pro Tennis Open 2024, as main draw matches commence at the Texas Tennis Center on Wednesday. With a cold front rolling in Austin in early morning, you can expect winds to pick up between 10 to 20 miles per hour throughout the day. With the highs being in the upper 60s, it will be Austin’s coolest day since March.
Because the tournament is in Texas, there are many players with roots or connections in the state. From the UT-Austin team are Pierre Yves Bailly, Evan Burnett, Rahul Sachdev and Calvin Wang. One alum is Cleeve Harper, who plays out of Canada. Players from Texas colleges include Tiago Torres at UT-San Antonio and Piotr Pawlak of Texas Tech. Austin local Marko Mesarovic, pictured above, qualified for the main draw for the third time. He is Clemson sophomore who won three state singles and doubles titles for Round Rock Westwood. He’ll face Giulio Perego of Italy in the third match on Court 5. The wild cards have local flavor, too, especially with Jack Ingram, the Austin native and Vanderbilt freshman. UT players Sachdev and Wang are also wild cards.
The first round includes two Portugal players facing off, No. 2 seed Duarte Vale and Tiago Torres in the fourth match on Court 2. Another take of the Texas A&M and UT rivalry occurs when No. 8 seed Bailly faces Texas A&M player Luke Casper in the third match on Court 3. –Emily Rather