Hometown favorite Caty McNally overcame Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2) on Monday to win a singles match at the Western & Southern Open in Mason, Ohio, for the first time.
The 20-year-old, a frequent doubles partner of Coco Gauff, had lost in the first round of her hometown event each of the past three years.
McNally had to fight through leg cramps on her way to securing the 3-hour, 7-minute victory. She grabbed at her left leg in clear pain after her first serve at match point.
When she won the final point, she dropped to the ground and reveled in the celebration before walking over to where her family was seated in the arena.
Ranked No. 179 in the world, McNally upset the world No. 36, Sasnovich, who saved 12 of 16 break points during the marathon match. McNally owned a 6-3 edge in aces and won 44 of her 69 first-service points (63.8 percent).
McNally will face fifth-seeded Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in the second round.
No. 9 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia and No. 13 seed Leylah Fernandez of Canada lost during Monday’s early action.
Amanda Anisimova of the United States swept Kasatkina 6-4, 6-4. Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia beat Fernandez 6-4, 7-5.
Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic saved a match point in the second-set tiebreaker and outlasted Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-3. Teichmann was a finalist at Cincinnati in 2021. Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan had an easier time beating Egypt’s Mayar Sherif 6-3, 6-2.
Other winners Monday included American Alison Riske-Amritraj, Russian Veronika Kudermetova and the Czech Republic’s Tereza Martincova.
More matches were scheduled for the evening, pitting Kaia Kanepi of Estonia against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, Taylor Townsend of the U.S. against Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia, Caroline Garcia of France against Petra Martic of Croatia and Sloane Stephens of the U.S. against Alize Cornet of France.
–Field Level Media