Photograph by Miya Tanner for Texas Student Media
One player who is right at home is today’s singles semifinals of the H-E-B Women’s Pro Tennis Open at the Texas Tennis Center is wild card Malaika Rapolu, the recent Longhorn graduate who grew up in the north Austin suburb of Cedar Park. She hasn’t lost a set in three matches, including a 6-1, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Rinon Okuwaki of Japan. Rapolu said it “felt amazing” to be back at the Texas Tennis Center. “I know that in May, it was my last college match here, and I just didn’t know if I was going to come back to play a match here,” she said. “A few of the fans came out, so it was awesome.”
At noon on Court 5, she’ll face Haruka Kaji of Japan, who was a 6-1, 6-1 winner over fifth-seeded Sophie Chang. Despite the score, Kaji noted with a smile: “Every day is a tough match.”
The semifinals start at 11 a.m. on Court 1 with two players who needed three-set victories on Friday. Whitney Osuigwe overcame injuries to both feet in her 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory over No. 8 Carol Zhao of Canada. Osuigwe will face Karina Miller, a wild card from Michigan who defeated Jaimee Fourlis of Australia, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4.
The top-seeded pair of Osuigwe and Alana Smith rallied for a 1-6, 6-4, 10-8 victory over No. 4 Jiangxue Han and Yujia Huang of China, but Miller lost her doubles semifinals in a championship tiebreak. “I have tonight to recover,” Osuigwe said on Friday. “Hopefully that goes great, but you always have injuries in tennis, so I’ll just work my way through it.” In today’s doubles final, Osuigwe and Smith will face Diae El Jardi and Thaisa Grana Predretti, who defeated Miller and Amelia Honer, 6-4, 5-7, 10-5.