Former Texas star Peyton Stearns draws spot in inaugural ATX Open women's tennis event
Less than nine months after becoming the first Texas women’s tennis player to win the NCAA singles title and helping lead the Longhorns to the team championship, Peyton Stearns returns to Austin this week hoping to continue her meteoric rise on the Women’s Tennis Association pro tour.
Stearns, 20, who turned pro in June after playing two years at UT, received a wild card to this week’s inaugural ATX Open at Westwood Country Club and will play qualifier Katie Boulter in the first round in Monday’s featured night match on stadium court.
Stearns has vaulted nearly 400 spots up the WTA rankings since July, beginning this week at No. 137, and with a good showing over the next six days she could put herself into a spot where she automatically qualifies for May’s French Open.
“Mentally, I’ve dialed in a little bit and believed in what I can do,” said Stearns, who has already won two ITF events, the lower level of the professional tour, this year. “I got a coach and have been working with him since I left college, and having one voice over and over and structured practices really pays off. It’s definitely a goal of mine to make the main draw of grand slams with my own ranking, so being close with how quickly I’ve started playing pro tennis is really cool.”
While Stearns could be a crowd favorite, she’s the lowest ranked player in an impressive field that features seven top-50 players; she's one of only two players in the field outside the top 100.
In those circumstances — though she received a good draw with a qualifier and avoiding a seeded player in the first round — Stearns said there’s no pressure to make a deep run despite playing just a few miles away from where she paced the Longhorns to back-to-back national team titles.
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“I’ve just got to let loose and see what happens,” she said. “If I just go out and give it my all and play the way I’m supposed to — I’m happy with that.”
Stearns noted she’s enjoyed being back in Austin and plans to revisit some of her favorite spots she found as a college student.
“I’ve gotten PTSD going down some of the streets,” she said with a laugh. “It’s really neat to be back. I love Austin, it’s a great city and I haven’t hit a lot of the landmarks and restaurants I want to get back to, but I got to go back to the courts at Texas and there was a ceremony that was really neat.”
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Chasing Linette: Magda Linette of Poland, a semifinalist at last month’s Australian Open who is No. 21 in the world, is the event’s top seed.
Also in the field are 2022 Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins (No. 40), 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens (No. 41) and Lauren Davis (No. 49), who won the Hobart International in January, all top-50 players from the U.S. who are seeded and also figure to be crowd favorites.
Second-seeded Shuai Zhang (22) of China said that the women’s game is so deep and has so much parity that being seeded in a tournament doesn’t mean much.
“There are so many younger players who play so well, and even if a player doesn’t have a high ranking — they can beat anyone,” she said. “There’s a lot of great players who struggle to stay in the top 100 because there are so many good players. You have to stay on top of your game and sometimes totally change your game. I’m really happy be in the top 30 as it’s not easy.”
With the ATX Open in its first year, Zhang said it’s good to see a new setting as opposed to going back to the same tournaments year after year.
“It’s exciting to be at a new place in a new city,” she said. “You see different things and the court, gym and the atmosphere are just so nice. It’s totally different from the average tournament and it’s good to be here.”
ATX Open
Monday through Sunday, Westwood Country Club (3808 W. 35th St.)
Monday's matches: Morning (10:30 a.m., Stadium Court) — Katie Volynets vs. Alison Riske-Amritraj; Mirjam Bjorklund vs. (7) Alycia Parks; Danka Kovinic vs. Heather Watson. Afternoon (noon, Grandstand) — Anna Blinkova vs. Ann Li; Nagy/Papadakis vs. Friedsam/Kichenok; (3 p.m., Grandstand) — Dart/Panova vs. Krueger/Montgomery; Neel/Tjandramulia vs. Gleason/Lechemia. Evening (6 p.m., Stadium Court) — Kostyuk/Yastremska vs. Parks/Stephens; Peyton Stearns vs. Katie Boulter
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: ATX Open women's tennis tournament draws upon big names, familiar face
