Watchful Eyes on Wednesday

It is official. The ATX Open is the place to be. Just ask the likes of golfer Sergio Garcia, Austin FC owner Anthony Precourt, former Formula 2 World Champion and Vice President of Motorsports at COTA Andy Soucek or Texas tennis legend Ken McAllister…they will confirm after their visits during the opening round.

RIDING HIGH

The first-ever ATX Open match winner, Katie Volynets, battles our No. 3 seed, Anastasia Potapova, for the first time Wednesday. Both 21-year-olds come to us enjoying career-high rankings and finished their first-round matches with bagel sets. Expect this one to come down to the wire.

SEED OF DOUBT

Anna Blinkova will take on Varvara Gracheva who, by her own admission, did not expect her surprise defeat of No.1 seed Magda Linette. In fairness, her doubt was justified by their lopsided 6-3 6- 0 prior meeting in favor of Linette. This will be Blinkova and Gracheva’s sixth contest, and although the head-to-head count slightly favors Gracheva, she had better not blink.

NINE OF YOUR BUSINESS

Very little mystery remains when you have played an opponent eight times. Sloane Stephens and Heather Watson first played in 2010 and now, 13 years and 20 sets later, they face off for the ninth time. For anyone wondering, Watson leads the battle count 5-3.

DROPSHOT DRAMA

What better place for Peyton Stearns to win her first-ever Hologic WTA main draw match than right here, in the town where she made history with the University of Texas? Standing between Stearns and a quarterfinal is a battle of H-E-B Women’s Pro Tennis Open champions as 2021 winner Mirjam Bjorkland awaits the 2022 champ, Stearns. Both DropShot Series winners were granted ATX Open wildcards, but only one will reach the quarterfinals.

SEEING DOUBLE

The nightcap features our No.1 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez taking on a couple of North Carolina Tar Heels in Jamie Loeb and Makenna Jones.