Grace Min, the third and highest remaining seed, hopes to continue an easy run at the H-E-B Women’s Pro Tennis Open on Thursday. She will take on Ellie Douglas in the second round at the Texas Tennis Center. Min breezed through her first-round match winning, 6-3, 6-0, over Gabriela Lee. Min, a 29-year-old from Atlanta, has made appearances at all four majors – the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
Douglas is a former Texas Christian University player, where she earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year Honors in 2019. Douglas’s career has been quiet since she left college and she is still looking for her first professional title.
On Tuesday, Ava Markham pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament when she came from behind to defeat top-seeded Nigina Abduraimova, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-1. Markham came into the tournament from the qualifying draw. She will play Madison Sieg, who won her first-round match in dominant fashion by taking down Maria Kozyreva 6-2, 6-0.
Clervie Ngounoue made the singles final at this tournament last year and returned by defeating fifth-seeded Martha Matoula, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2. She will face Martina Okalova, who rolled to a 6-4, 6-1 first-round victory over Taisiya Pachkaleva.
Ayumi Miyamoto took down second-seeded Stavey Fung when Fung retired at 6-1, 5-3. Miyamoto will face Chloe Beck, who defeated Jessica Failla 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday. Beck had a day off to prepare to face Miyamoto who nearly finished her match before her opponent retired.
After both opponents played their first-round matches on Tuesday, Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva, the tournament’s No. 4 seed, will play Mary Stoiana. Jimenez dominated Maria Kononova, 6-0, 6-1, while Stoiana had a tougher match against Sahaja Yamalapalli, winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Sixth-seeded Hanna Chang played a quick and dominant match against Jade Otway, winning 6-0, 6-2. She will face Stefani Webb, an 18-year-old who won her match against Tatum Evans in convincing fashion, 6-3, 6-1.
Nicole Rivkin, a junior at the University of Texas, pulled off Tuesday’s final upset, taking down No. 8 Fernanda Contreres Gomez, 6-3, 6-4. In the second round, Rivkin will face Ashley Lahey, a wild card who defeated Katja Wiersholm, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.
Article by Bevo Video Productions, a division of Texas Student Media at UT-Austin’s Moody College of Communication.
Check out the bios of the H-E-B Women’s Pro Open players.