Katherine Sebov

Daniel Island, S.C.–Main draw play began this morning under cloudy skies at the Credit One Charleston Open on Daniel Island in South Carolina. A breakout Canadian, an American birthday girl, a Czech teen and a Charleston Open debutante started the action with four upsets.

On Althea Gibson court, world #92 Madison Brengle celebrated her 32nd birthday as she went on to victory over Kaia Kanepi, 6-3, 6-4. The fans serenaded her with “Happy Birthday” as she left the court after the win.

On Stadium court, 17-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova persevered in three sets to oust world #60 Jill Teichmann, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Next up was #89 Julia Grabher. The 26-year-old Austrian had never played at Charleston until today and she did so in winning fashion with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 effort against #28 Shuai Zhang.

On Stadium court, another upset was in the making. This one wasn’t unexpected to anyone who has watched Canadian Katherine Sebov play this weekend or this year. The world #149 qualified in Miami two weeks ago and won her first round match. In Charleston, she’s done the same. With two wins to propel her to the main draw, Sebov played with determination over the weekend to gain entry to Charleston. Despite losing the first set narrowly today, she played through the Stadium court jitters and the pro-American crowd to outlast #57 Lauren Davis, 4-6, 6-1,6-2.

Lesia Tsurenko was too much for Paula Ormaechea today, and Tsurenko prevailed, 6-1, 6-1. Ons Jabeur will meet the Ukrainian in round 2.

Anna Blinkova set up a match with the tournament’s top seed, Jessica Pegula, with a 7-6(7), 6-2 win against Anna Bondar.

Daniel Island, SC—Under breezy conditions, eight qualifiers prevailed today to advance to a final tomorrow at the Credit One Charleston Open in Daniel Island, SC. It was so gusty that Argentina’s Paula Ormaechaea aborted her serve 8 times in one game alone.

The only one who had it worse than the ball toss today was Coco Vandeweghe. The former top ten player and highest seeded American in qualifying looked listless as she was routined by the 19-year-old Elvina Kalieva, 6-2, 6-1. Kalieva is a fellow American and will face Louisa Chirico next. Chirico defeated fellow American Sophie Chang, 7-6(5), 6-3. Speaking of straight sets, the first six matches were two and outs.

Canada’s Katherine Sebov had a great March in winning an ITF title in Toronto followed by her first WTA 1000 level match win in Miami. She started the month of April with a win here in Charleston today, 6-2, 6-1 over Gabriela Ce. She’ll look for a spot in the main draw when she takes the court against Francesca Di Lorenzo tomorrow.

Ohio State alum Francesca DiLorenzo pulled off the comeback of the day in outlasting French Open doubles champion Kiki Mladenovic in three, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. DiLorenzo maintained composure in the third set as Mladenovic raced back from 0-4 to nearly level the match before the Frenchwoman’s serve failed her repeatedly.

Fan favorite Sabine Lisicki raced out to a 6-1 first set before closing the second set in a tiebreak, 6-1, 7-6(5) over Yuriko Miyazaki.

The final eight qualifiers will be decided by tomorrow afternoon and will face main draw participants Lauren Davis, Caroline Dolehide, Varvara Gracheva, Xiyu Wang, Sloane Stephens, or one another, as two qualifiers will meet in the first round.