Marathon Matches Highlight Opening Day

Monday’s longest match came between France’s Léolia Jeanjean and Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini. After three and a half hours of battle, Stefanini secured the win when Jeanjean missed a return on Stefanini’s seventh match point, closing out the match 6-7, 6-4, 7-5.

Second seed McCartney Kessler also battled through a tough opener, defeating Switzerland’s Simona Waltert 7-6(6), 6-3 to advance to the second round.

Austin 125 defending champion Renata Zarazúa survived a marathon of her own, needing more than three hours to defeat Anna Blinkova 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4.

Another match that pushed past the three-hour mark featured Ohio’s Caty McNally, who defeated Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. After the win, McNally said, “It was not pretty, it was all heart, and I’m glad I was able to close it out after being down in the third set and after all the rain delays.”