Duval Surprises Washington at Dow Corning Classic; Harrison Receives Main Draw Wild Card into Memphis WTA Event; Klahn and Thacher Win at SAP Open

I'm back home in Kalamazoo, so unfortunately I didn't see Vicky Duval's first win in the main draw of a ITF Women's Circuit event, a 6-3 6-3 victory over 34-year-old qualifier Mashona Washington in the first round at the $100,000 Dow Corning Tennis Classic in Midland, Michigan. Duval, who turned 15 in November, was given a wild card into the tournament, but according to press aide Josh Rey, she was far from overwhelmed by the occasion. Sabine Lisicki, the former Top 25 player who trains with Duval at the IMG/Bollettieri Academy, was courtside to provide support. Rey's account of the day's action can be found here.

Duval will play No. 2 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada, who barely escaped an upset at the hands of qualifier Alex Glatch 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(5). Two qualifiers did advance to the second round however, with Ahsha Rolle cruising past No. 3 seed Evgeniya Rodina of Russia 6-1, 6-1 and Alexandra Stevenson eliminating No. 8 seed CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-2. Sixteen-year-old wild card Jessica Pegula, who reached the final of the $25,000 Pro Circuit tournament in Lutz, Florida last month, put up a good fight against Sorana Cirstea of Romania, but dropped a 7-6(6), 6-3 decision to the fifth seed.

Here are the complete scores from today's singles:

[6] Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) def. Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) 6-4, 6-1
[Q] Ahsha Rolle (United States) def. [3] Evgeniya Rodina (Russia) 6-1, 6-1
Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) def. Julie Coin (France) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
[5] Sorana Cirstea (Romania) def. [WC] Jessica Pegula (United States) 7-6(6), 6-3
Madison Brengle (United States) def. Olga Savchuk (Ukraine) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
[4] Anne Keothavong (Great Britain) def. [WC] Brittany Augustine (United States) 6-0, 6-2
[Q] Alexandra Stevenson (United States) def. [8] CoCo Vandeweghe (United States) 6-3, 6-2
Stephanie Foretz-Gacon (France) def. Heather Watson (Great Britain) 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(6)
[WC] Victoria Duval (United States) def. [Q] Mashona Washington (United States) 6-3, 6-3
[2] Rebecca Marino (Canada) def. [Q] Alexa Glatch (United States) 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(5)
[7] Ksenia Pervak (Russia) def. Alison Riske (United States) 6-3, 6-3.

Catherine Harrison, the 16-year-old from Germantown, Tennessee, has received a wild card into the main draw of next week's WTA Cellular South Cup at the Racquet Club of Memphis. In this article from the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Harrison and her coach talk about her experience in last year's qualifying at her hometown tournament and her improvement since then. Beatrice Capra told me in Midland, when I spoke to her for an upcoming Tennis Recruiting Network article on her choice of Duke, that she had applied for a main draw wild card for Memphis, and should know by Thursday whether she has been granted it.

Last night in the first round of doubles at the ATP SAP Open in San Jose, Stanford's Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher, who received a wild card, defeated the No. 3 seeded team of Dustin Brown and Rogier Wassen 6-3, 3-6, 10-5. Tonight Klahn will play No. 2 seed Gael Monfils in a first round singles match, which is second on after 7 p.m. PST. This year the tournament is offering free livestreaming of matches via Veetle.com. Our friend Ken Thomas of radiotennis.com is doing the commentary, and this afternoon I watched a very entertaining match between Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania and Donald Young of the U.S. Young was serving for the match at 5-3 in the third set, but lost four very close games to come out on the wrong end of a 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 score. So for you night owls out there, I recommend the Klahn - Monfils match, which will go on way past my bedtime here in the Eastern time zone.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Vicky Duval, Dow Corning Classic, Catherine Harrison Cellular South Cup, SAP Open, Stanford, Ryan Thacher, Bradley Klahn, Colette Lewis