Carol Weymuller Open Day One Roundup: Wildcard Salunkhe in Opening Day Shock

The 2022 Carol Weymuller Open got off to a thrilling start as Indian wildcard Akanksha Salunkhe stunned Hong Kong’s Tsz-Wing Tong to record the biggest win of her career to date.

World No.99 Salunkhe, playing in her first ever match on the PSA World Tour, got off to a perfect start in the opening match at the Heights Casino in Brooklyn, New York, as she made a rapid start to take the first two games against World No.53 Tong.

The experienced Tong, though, soon hit back and appeared to have steadied the ship after recording 11-6 and 13-11 wins to find parity.

The 23-year-old Indian, though, then rallied spectacularly, controlling play as Tong made a number of costly errors, to take the decisive fifth game 11-7.

Salunke’s reward for her performance is a second-round match against top seed and World No.8 Rowan Elaraby.

Speaking afterwards, Salunkhe said: “I’m still running on adrenalin! It’s so awesome to win. It’s my first win in a 50K and beating someone so highly ranked!

“I felt really excited to play. I played her recently and I lost 12-10 in the fifth so it felt really good to get my revenge! I definitely have no pressure tomorrow. I’m looking forward to getting on court with Rowan, who’s so good, and learning from her.”

Salunke’s win was far from the only upset of the day, though, as the USA’s World No.67 Marina Stefanoni thrilled the home crowd by surviving a fightback from Egyptian World No.50 Sana Ibrahim.

As Salunkhe had done earlier in the day, Stefanoni took the first two games in rapid succession, only for Ibrahim to battle back to 2-2 with 11-5, 11-7 wins.

In a thrilling final game, both of the 19-year-olds went all out for the win. Eventually, though, it was the American who was able to make the breakthrough, taking the final game 11-8 to seal a 50-minute 3-2 win.

“I feel great. I’ve never played this tournament before so it’s really nice to play and win the 1st round. I thought I played well. Sana takes advantage of all opportunities so I had to be very tidy and I fought hard. I’ve had a couple of five gamers recently so it’s nice to know that I can push to the end,” Stefanoni said afterwards.

On her second-round opponent Sivasangari Subramaniam, she said: “I am excited to play Siva. I played her in college Nationals in the semis and lost in 3 but towards the end it was close, so I am excited for a rematch.”

Joining Stefanoni in the second round is the only other North American who was involved on day one, World No.52 Nicole Bunyan set up an all-Canada clash with No.4 seed Hollie Naughton by beating England’s World No.65 Lily Taylor 3-0.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Latvia’s Ineta Mackevica, Egypt’s Fayrouz Aboelkheir, Poland’s Karina Tyma and Egypt’s Hana Moataz.

Round two of the Carol Weymuller Open gets underway from 17:30 (GMT-4) today (21 April).

Entering the draw today will be the eight seeded players, with the USA’s No.2 seed Olivia Clyne taking on Egypt’s Hana Moataz and No.3 seed Nadine Shahin playing an all-Egyptian affair against Fayrouz Aboelkheir.

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Results: Carol Weymuller Open 2022 Round One
Ineta Mackevica (LAT) bt Julia Le Coq (FRA) 3-1: 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 (26m)
[WC] Akanksha Salunkhe (IND) bt Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG) 3-2: 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-13, 11-7 (56m)
Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) bt Ka Yi Lee (HKG) 3-1: 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4 (33m)
Karina Tyma (POL) bt Tessa ter Sluis (NED) 3-1: 11-6, 6-11, 12-10, 11-7 (34m)
Nicole Bunyan (CAN) bt Lily Taylor (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-1, 11-5 (16m)
Marina Stefanoni (USA) bt Sana Ibrahim (EGY) 3-2: 11-4, 11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 11-8 (50m)
Hana Moataz (EGY) bt Nadia Pfister (SUI) 3-1: 11-2, 11-3, 4-11, 11-8 (28m)

Draw: Carol Weymuller Open 2022 Round Two
[1] Rowan Elaraby (EGY) v [WC] Akanksha Salunkhe (IND)
Ineta Mackevica (LAT) v [7] Sabrina Sobhy (USA)
[8] Donna Lobban (AUS) v Karina Tyma (POL)
Fayrouz Aboelkheir (EGY) v [3] Nadine Shahin (EGY)
[4] Hollie Naughton (CAN) v Nicole Bunyan (CAN)
Marina Stefanoni (USA) v [6] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)
[5] Farida Mohamed (EGY) v Lucy Beecroft (ENG)
Hana Moataz (EGY) v [2] Olivia Clyne (USA)