The Longhorns stampede continues at ATX Open, as Texas doubles team posts a win

For two days at least, organizers might consider rebranding the ATX Open as the UTexas Open.

Following Texas-ex Peyton Stearns’ marathon win Monday night, the Texas women’s doubles team of Charlotte Chavatipon and Sabina Zeynalova delivered a 6-3, 6-4 win over Beatrice Gumulya and Yu-Chieh Hsieh early Tuesday afternoon.

“I know I took a little inspiration from that,” Chavatipon said of Stearns’ singles win. ”There’s a sense of pride, especially here in Austin. When we play in events like this, we are playing for bigger things than just ourselves, and there are a lot of alumni and people watching who want us to do well. We heard the people watching the match saying ‘Go Horns’ and things like that. It means a lot.”

Though they’ve only played a handful of matches this season as partners, Zeynalova and Chavatipon took the court looking like a veteran team that knew each other’s every move. The UT teammates communicated constantly and fed off each other’s energy throughout the match.

“I feel like our energy together keeps us going,” Zeynalova said. “We can miss easy shots, but we know we have each other’s backs and we stay positive. That’s a very important part of our doubles.”

The Texas duo fought to a 4-3 lead after Zeynalova held her serve. In the following game, the sophomore from Ukraine delivered a pair of backhand returns at Hsieh that Chavatipon put away easily to earn the crucial break and a 5-3 lead. Chavatipon, a junior from California, quickly held her serve to close out the set.

“Our assistant coach Justin (Butsch) told us to make sure we had good energy,” Chavatipon said. “It’s easy for us to feed off of each other because we know we aren’t going to get down on each other. I know I got down a bit and she was right there to pick me up and tell me I was doing well. And when she tells me that, it really means a lot to me.”

In a back-and-forth second set that saw both teams fend off break points and earn tough service holds, the duo got a big break in the ninth game. Serving at 4-4, Hsieh was able to save a break point at 30-40, but on the deciding point, Texas got its bounce. Zeynalova’s backhand hit the net and dropped out of Hsieh’s reach to win the game.

“I think I was a little nervous early in the match and things were happening almost automatically,” Zeynalova said. “Once we started to play aggressively, we started to get into the match. For me, then I was able to start hitting shots.”

Leading 5-4, Chavatipon took control and served out the match, much to the delight of teammates watching from courtside.

“I think we were doing things the right way,” Chavatipon said. “We tried to start off aggressively and we stayed the more aggressive team throughout. That’s what turned it for us. We were more aggressive and we got the big points at the big moments.”

The duo learned it had received its wild card entry Sunday. The short notice didn’t allow the two to create great expectations for themselves, but they certainly made the most of their first WTA opportunity.

“We thought it would be great to get a win, but mostly we just wanted to enjoy the experience,” Chavatipon said.

Thanks to Tuesday’s effort, they’ll get to enjoy the experience a little longer. Chavatipon and Zeynalova advance to face the winner of the match between second seeded Erin Routliffe/Aldila Sutjiadi against Dalma Galfi/Danka Kovinic.

In other early Tuesday action, two of the top seeds withdrew from the singles tournament before play began. Second-seed Shuai Zhang and sixth-seeded Lauren Davis pulled out due to illness and injury, respectively.

“I am very sorry I am unable to compete at the first ATX Open,” Zhang, the 23rd-ranked player in the world, said after falling ill. “I really enjoy the city of Austin and hope to make it back here next year.”

“I am so sad to have to withdraw from the ATX Open,” Davis, the 47th ranked player, said after suffering an abdominal injury. I was looking forward to playing in Austin and I can’t wait to return in 2024. Thank you to the tournament for the amazing hospitality.”

Erika Andreeva, Zhang’s replacement, found out she had a match just hours before taking the court. She made the most of her placement into the draw. Facing Harriet Dart, Andreeva won a marathon that lasted three-and-a-half hours, the longest WTA match of the 2023 season. She rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the third set, saving two match points, to outlast Dart 7-6, 4-6, 7-6.

Third-seeded Anastasia Potapova wasted little time winning her opening match, topping Elizabeth Mandlik 6-2, 6-0. Anna Kalinskaya won a three-set battle over Nao Hibino to advance, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Madison Brengle topped Louisa Chirico 6-2, 7-6.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Longhorns doubles team wins its match at WTA's ATX Open event