In its second year, the ATX Open delivered again with full crowds and significant upgrades to improve the fan and tournament experience. Despite not having any Americans or marquee names competing in the finals weekend, Texas tennis fans showed up to enjoy high-quality tennis and quintessential Austin spring weather on the second Saturday and Sunday.
As the only WTA 250 event in the United States, the ATX Open is an important opportunity for tennis fans to experience top and mid-to-lower-ranked players inside the top 150 compete in person on a more intimate stage than many of the bigger events.
It also plays a critical role for American tennis as a new fixture on the tour calendar, given that other U.S. events like Atlanta and Newport will be sun-setting into its final curtain call this year due to the ATP’s increased focus on prioritizing the bigger tournaments.
Related Podcast
Christo Van Rensburg Interview: Tournament director Christo Van Rensburg discusses the ATX Open and offers doubles strategy insight.
ATX Doubles Recap: “Team Olivia” Wins First Title Together
The doubles final featured a battle between unseeded, first-time duos of Olivia Gadecki and Olivia Nicholls (“Team Olivia”) vs. Katarzyna Kawa and Bibiane Schoofs. Team Olivia came out on top with a convincing 6-2, 6-4 victory, but the match wasn’t as straightforward as the scoreline indicated.
After winning the first set 6-2, Kawa/Schoofs picked up their level considerably and raced off to a 4-0 lead over Gadecki/Nicholls in the second set, winning three consecutive deciding deuce games. From there, the Aussie-Brit duo turned the set around and won six games in a row. On championship point, Gadecki sealed the win a blistering forehand down the line on a deciding deuce point.
“I whiffed their serve and got aced on our first match point, then Liv blasts a forehand return winner for us the very next point to win the title,” said Olivia Nicholls jokingly in the championship post-match interview. “Guess I’m lucky to have such a great partner.”
The ATX Open doubles title marked the debut WTA career doubles title for 21-year-old Gadecki and the second WTA career title for 29-year-old Nicholls, who also holds 19 ITF doubles titles. The two plan to play together again at the upcoming WTA 125 event in Charleston. With the win in Austin, both players are now firmly ranked inside the top 100 with Gadecki at No. 77 and Nicholls at No. 81.
ATX Singles Recap: Historic All-Chinese Final Matchup
For the first time in WTA history at a U.S. event, the singles final featured an all-Chinese battle between No. 6 Xiyu Wang vs. No. 8 Yue Yuan. In a thrilling contest with a packed house of Austin tennis fans, Yuan outlasted Wang 6-4, 7-6(5) in nearly two-and-a-half hours. After leading Wang 6-4, 5-2, 40-0, 25-year-old Yuan stumbled briefly before finally sealing the deal several games later on her sixth championship point.
Winning the title in Austin was a particularly momentous occasion for Yuan. Not only was it her first career WTA title, it was also her first week working alongside her new coach, who she thanked in her post-match speech during the championship ceremony.
Along with Wang and Yuan, fellow countrywoman Yafan Wang advanced to the quarterfinals in Austin. Headlined by 2024 Australian Open finalist, No. 7 Qinwen Zheng. The Chinese women are showing strength in numbers on the WTA Tour with seven women currently ranked inside the top 100.
Americans Come Up Short in Austin
Despite having 11 Americans in the field in both singles and doubles, none of them advanced beyond the quarterfinals. The last American standing, No. 3 seed Danielle Collins, won her first two rounds before retiring mid-match in the quarterfinals against Xiyu Wang.
The other two seeded American players, No. 2 seed Sloane Stephens and No. 7 seed Peyton Stearns, both fell short of expectations in singles. Stephens fell to former top 15 player Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-2 in the second round while former UT standout Stearns was upset in her first-round match in a tough three-set battle against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Stephens and Stearns paired up in doubles as well and made a run to the quarterfinals. Other Americans in the Austin field included Alycia Parks, Taylor Townsend, Katie Volynets, and Sachia Vickery in singles and Sophie Chang/Angela Kulikov, Catherine Harrison/Sabrina Santamaria and Danielle Collins in doubles.
Related Article
Danielle Collins Interview: The 30-year-old American discusses the mental health benefits of playing doubles.
ATX Open Doubles Press Conference Insights
Throughout the week, Will and I enjoyed speaking with 12 different players in both post-match and longer-form podcast interviews. The best part? We chatted with a lot of new players who I didn’t know much about previously or had never watched before.
That’s the beauty about covering tournaments in person, especially at the WTA 250 level where there is more media access than you get at bigger events. It’s a great experience hearing players’ stories who are under the radar and then following their results throughout the year. You never know if you’re talking to a future top 10 or world no.1 player during an interview.
Check out our ATX Open Doubles Diary below with takeaways and excerpts from these conversations.
ATX Open Champions: Team Olivia Comes Out On Top
For a first-time partnership, Olivia Gadecki and Oliva Nicholls weren’t too shabby together. Both have been close friends for a while now and attributed their on-court success to having strong chemistry together off the court. It was an enjoyable 20-minute conversation following their walkover semifinal win, where instead they played a fun exhibition against Murphy Jensen and Catherine Harrison.
We covered a range of topics, including:
- How they use their day offs for practice and specific drills
- Why Olivia Gadecki is based in the UK despite growing up in Australia
- The benefits of growing up in grand slam nations with more access to resources and mentors on tour
- How both are adjusting to playing more WTA events and the difficult juggling act with scheduling between ITF and WTA events
Related Podcast
Olivia Gadecki & Oliva Nicholls Interview: The 2024 ATX Open Doubles Champs talk doubles strategy and managing life on tour.
ATX Open Finalists: Kawa and Schoofs Make Debut Run Together
With a mere seven minutes left until the doubles entry cutoff, first-time partners Katarzyna Kawa and Bibiane Schoofs inked their place in the doubles draw. Little did they know they would make a run to the finals.
We learned why Bibiane Schoofs likes to scout opponents while Katarzyna likes to focus on herself. We also learned why both players laughed after Katarzyna missed volleys on consecutive poaches in the 10-point match tiebreak – a happy-go-lucky mantra that both players embodied on court throughout the week in Austin.
Both players were a pleasure to speak with and are now ranked inside the top 100 at No. 92 (Schoofs) and No. 93 (Kawa) after their run to the finals.
Related Podcast
Kawa and Schoofs Interview: The 2024 ATX Open doubles finalists talk about doubles strategy, their mantra on court and different approaches to scouting opponents.
Danielle Collins: “A Pharmaceutical Company Should Pick Me Up”
There’s never a dull moment with Danielle Collins, whether you’re watching her match, listening to her post-match interview, or asking her questions in post-match press. In what she has announced to be her last year on tour, Collins seems to have a “carefree” aura about her with some pressure alleviated.
One of the highlights of our conversation, Collins laughed and suggested that a pharmaceutical sponsor should pick her up given the many ailments and injuries she has battled throughout her career. A few takeaways from our conversation:
- In her last year on tour, she’s mostly focused on enjoying life off the court and has more goals outside of tennis she’s prioritizing in life.
- She still loves playing doubles but doesn’t enjoy the game of “musical chairs” with having to pick new partners at each tournament based on the combined rankings and tournament cuts. She’d prefer to play with one partner consistently.
I don’t like the musical chairs of doubles partners. It’s hard to adjust and causes a lot of headaches. At this point in my career, I’m either playing with someone and we’re committing to it or we aren’t going to play. It’s hard for me to see how you can improve as a doubles player if you aren’t playing with the same partner consistently each week. That’s hard for me because I’m a pretty high achiever and I want to win.
Danielle Collins
Nadia Kichenok & Oksana Kalashnikova: Doubles Duo on the Rise
Hailing from Ukraine and Georgia respectively, top seeds Nadia Kichenok and Oksana Kalashnikova showed their experience over the field with a strong semi-finals showing before coming up short against Kawa/Schoofs in a third-set match breaker. Both players are currently ranked right around the top 50 and talked about the importance of getting inside the top 40 to ensure direct entry at WTA 1000s events and getting to play with one partner consistently.
During the conversation, we learned:
- Why they use more I-formation in their first match, but less in the quarterfinals.
- How they adjusted to different match conditions – from cold & windy one day to sunny and hot a few days later.
- Behind-the-scenes insight into life on tour as a doubles player and why they are right on the cusp of a significant ranking threshold.
Related Podcast
Nadia Kichenok & Oksana Kalashnikova Interview: We chat after their round one and quarterfinal wins in Austin.
Maya Joint & Sabina Zeynalova
UT junior Sabina Zeynalova and doubles partner Maya Joint, a 17-year-old who will join the Longhorns in the fall, posted a respectable run to the quarterfinals to the delight of the pro-UT Austin crowd. They nearly pulled off the upset against top seeds Kichenok/Kalashnikova but fell short in the third-set match breaker, 3-6, 6-3, 11-9.
Be sure to remember both of these names – I’m confident they will be making waves in doubles draws and potentially on the singles court too in the future.
Related Podcast
Maya Joint & Sabina Zeynalova Interview: UT doubles team wows home crowd with quarterfinals run.
See You at the 2025 ATX Open
As always, thanks for following along and we hope you can all join us at the ATX Open next year for another terrific event ahead.
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