MIDLAND, February 6, 2020 (Press Release)
First round action at the Dow Tennis Classic wrapped up with five Americans advancing to the second round.
Defending singles champion Caty McNally opened up her 2020 campaign taking on fellow American Alexa Glatch. McNally broke early and was able to consolidate the opening set to take a 6-2 lead.
In the second set, it was much of the same story, with Glatch struggling to hold serve. After a tough game, McNally was able to grab another break and closed out the match with a final score of 6-2, 6-1.
“I am super excited to be back. I love playing in front of you guys and you were amazing last year,” said McNally after the win. “You really helped me win this tournament last year.”
The 18-year-old comes into the Dow Tennis Classic after a strong start to the year, reaching the doubles quarterfinals of the Australian Open with Coco Gauff. In 2019 she claimed two WTA doubles titles and reached R2 of the US Open, losing to Serena Williams in three sets.
In the second featured match of the evening, No. 1 seed Madison Brengle took to the court against Gabriela Talaba. The 2018 champion came to Midland fresh-off a run to her first WTA 125K title last week in Newport Beach.
The Romanian came out and took the opening set 6-2 off of Brengle. After trading early breaks in the second, the two stayed neck-and-neck to force the tie break. Talaba came out on top, upsetting the No. 1 seed 6-2, 7-6(4).
Earlier in the day, Francesca Di Lorenzo, Maria Mateas, Caroline Dolehide and Robin Anderson all scored first round wins.
Second round action gets underway on Thursday with Catherine Harrison taking on Francesca Di Lorenzo. In the featured evening matches, Marine Partaud will take on No. 3 seed Shelby Rogers, followed by Jessika Ponchet taking on Caty McNally.
Admission to day session matches (through Friday) at the Dow Tennis Classic are free. Tickets to the evening sessions, semifinals, and finals start at just $10 for juniors (age 6-18) and $15 for adults. Tickets are available by calling the Greater Midland Tennis Center at (989) 631-6151 or by visiting bit.ly/DTC20-Tickets.
Wednesday, February 5 – RESULTS
Singles – First Round
(3) Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) def. Marcela Zacarias (MEX) 6-2, 6-3
Maria Mateas (USA) def. Alycia Parks (USA) 6-4, 7-6(3)
(4) Caroline Dolehide (USA) def. Grace Min (USA) 6-1, 6-4
(8) Robin Anderson (USA) def. Jovana Jovic (SRB) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
(2) Caty McNally (USA) def. Alexa Glatch (USA) 6-2, 6-1
Gabriela Talaba (ROU) def. (1) Madison Brengle (USA) 6-2, 7-6(4)
Seone Mendez (AUS) def. Sofia Shapatava (GEO) 7-5, 6-3
Marine Partaud (FRA) def. Maria Sanchez (USA) 6-4, 6-2
Shilin Xu (CHN) def. Quinn Gleason (USA) 6-0, 6-3
Jessika Ponchet (FRA) def. Katie Volynets (USA) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles – First Round
(2) Valeria Savinykh (RUS)-Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) def. Eudice Wong Chong (HKG)-Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) 7-5, 7-5
Jamie Loeb (USA)-Ingird Neel (USA) def. (4) Sofia Shapatava (GEO)-Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) 6-2, 4-6, 10-3
Chieh-Yu Hsu (TPE)-Marcela Zacarias (MEX) def. Beatrice Gumulya (INA)-Jessy Rompies (INA) 5-7, 6-2, 10-6
