The first half of the qualifying round at the H-E-B Women’s Pro Tennis Open has come to a close. 16 women get another chance for a spot in the main draw tomorrow.
Kylie Collins won her match against Susanna Brass to cement her spot in the next round of qualifiers. The former University of Texas tennis player helped with the Longhorns’ NCAA championship run in 2021 and 2022. She just recently transferred to Louisiana State University.
Wildcard Maria Kononova dominated with a stellar win against Katherine Earnest without dropping a set. Kononova is a University of North Texas graduate, graduating with the most singles wins in UNT history.
One of the winners of the 2020 Dropshot doubles tournament Kelly Willifer beat Simran Arun Kortikere 6-4 and 6-0 in her own qualifying match. The Dominican recently won the W15 Cancun doubles tournament with her partner, Anna Ulyashchenko.
The biggest upset of the day was the match between Katarina Kozarov and Vanda Vargova. Kozarov was seeded first for the qualifying round and was ranked seventh in the ITF singles ranking. She won the opening set 7-5, but the Slovakian Vargova fought back during the second set with a crushing 6-1 comeback. The resulting tiebreaker ended with Vargova triumphing over the Serbian Kozarov 10-7. This was Vargova’s first win on a hard court this season. She was the only one to beat a seeded player in the qualifying round of 32.
Eight players will be selected for the main draw tomorrow morning once the upcoming round of 16 concludes.
