Jennifer Brady wins her first WTA Tour match in 2 years on the DC Open

WASHINGTON — Jennifer Brady gained her first WTA Tour match in two years on Tuesday, overwhelming Twenty eighth-ranked Anhelina Kalinina 6-2, 6-1 in just a little over an hour on the DC Open.

“I’m really happy with the way I came out and dealt with my emotions,” Brady mentioned. “Tennis is a part of who I am, and I hope I never lose that.”

She is a 28-year-old from Pennsylvania who was the runner-up on the 2021 Australian Open and a semifinalist on the 2020 U.S. Open.

Brady has been ranked as excessive as thirteenth however at the moment is 1,056th after being sidelined since August 2021. She handled a fracture in her proper knee and torn tissue in her left foot.

“A lot of time, a lot of patience, on and off the court,” Brady mentioned.

At John Harris Court on a cloudy afternoon with the temperature within the low 80s Fahrenheit (mid-20s Celsius), she confirmed off a few of the expertise that used to hold her to the latter levels of hard-court Grand Slam tournaments. She persistently delivered serves sooner than 105 mph (169 kph) and adopted up with quick-strike, big-hitting baseline play, utilizing forehands and backhands to win factors rapidly.

Her sneakers squeaked across the court docket and he or she would typically even slide or almost do splits as she chased down Kalinina’s photographs and claimed 10 of the match’s final 11 video games.

Next for Brady might be a second-round matchup in opposition to 2017 U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys, the DC Open’s seventh seed, or Zheng Qinwen, final 12 months’s WTA Newcomer of the Year. Keys – who occurs to be Brady‘s doubles accomplice in Washington – and Zheng had been scheduled to face one another Tuesday evening.

That match was to observe Frances Tiafoe, a U.S. Open semifinalist final 12 months and the No. 2 seed within the DC Open males’s subject, in opposition to Aslan Karatsev.

In earlier males’s motion Tuesday, No. 5 Grigor Dimitrov beat Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (6), 6-2, qualifier Shang Juncheng defeated No. 14 Ben Shelton 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, Thanasi Kokkinakis acquired previous Taro Daniel 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, and Sho Shimabukuro eradicated Lloyd Harris 6-4, 6-4.

Shimabukuro misplaced in qualifying, however he acquired into the principle draw when 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori withdrew due to an injured left knee.