Fiona Crawley came up clutch in yesterday’s marquee matchup, edging Mary Lewis 7–6(4) in the third set after a back-and-forth battle. Longhorn freshman Christasha McNeil earned her first Top 250 win, taking out No. 2 seed Wannabe Sonobe with fearless play. Meanwhile, Madison Sieg fought through another marathon, defeating Alana Smith 6–2, 2–6, 6–4 in a gritty, momentum-swinging contest. Canadian Katherine Sebov and Egyptian qualifier Merna Refaat also went the distance in a tense three-set clash that kept fans glued to every point, with Refaat closing out the decider 6–4. That makes three seeds out in the first round, after Eryn Cayetano upset Alexis Blohina in straight sets. It’s been a dominant week for qualifiers: seven of the eight advanced to Round 2, with the lone loss coming in a qualifier-vs-qualifier matchup.
Polish qualifier Gina Feistel stunned defending champion Malaika Rapolu, dashing the Austinite’s hopes of returning to the ATX Open. Local Jennifer Jackson bowed out of the tournament after losses in both singles and doubles, but the Texas Tennis duo of Salma Drugdova and Christasha McNeil kept the home energy alive—advancing to the doubles quarterfinals without dropping a single game.
A big day of upsets and breakthroughs sets the stage for an electric Round of 16. By the end of today’s matches, we’ll know who rounds out the last eight in singles and which teams punch their tickets to the doubles semifinals.