Aug. 29—New York, New York? The Corley sisters from Albuquerque are going to be a part of it for a while longer.
Ivana and Carmen Corley’s Grand Slam tennis debut was a resounding success, as the wild card entry dominated in a first-round victory at the U.S. Open on Thursday in New York.
They needed just 62 minutes to dispatch the unseeded Russian duo of Ekaterina Alexandrova and Anna Blinkova, 6-1, 6-3. The Corleys won the final four games of the match.
“I think we felt we were in control the whole time,” said Carmen Corley, 22. “I don’t think there was ever a point (in the match) where we didn’t.”
The duo won 71% of their first serves, and a whopping 68% on second serves. They broke serve five times; the Russians won 29% on their second serve Thursday on Court 13 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The Corleys also had a 23-12 edge in winners.
“There were some nerves, as always,” Ivana Corley said, “but I think having last week in Cleveland was a really good opportunity for us to feel like we were on a big stage.”
The pair reached the semifinals at a WTA 250 event in Ohio last week. On Friday, they learned the U.S. Open was giving them a wild card entry into the women ‘s doubles draw in Queens.
They had solid support Thursday, with about two dozen family and friends in the stands cheering them on. They broke serve five times Thursday.
“I think from the moment I woke up, it was one of those days where you felt it,” Carmen said. “We’re gonna win today.”
In the second round, the Corleys match up against 10th-seeded Hao Ching-Chan of Chinese Taipei (ranked 24th in the world in doubles) and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia (doubles rank 30). It’s the first match of the day on Court 10, starting at 11 a.m. Mountain Time.
The Chinese Taipei player will be familiar as she was half of the No. 1 doubles seed last week in Cleveland, and the Corleys beat them 10-8 in the third set, which prior to Thursday had been the most significant victory of their months-long professional doubles career.
The sisters can count on more support from their stands, and they were deeply appreciative of that in Thursday’s victory.
“They were amazing,” Carmen said. “The best thing was after the match, getting to talk to a lot of them. There were a lot of people from Albuquerque there. That was amazing.”
Said Ivana: “It was cool to see how many people were here really rooting for us. It’s exciting, and it shows me how amazing our community is at home.”
And after their post-match duties, the pair hopped in a tournament-provided car, with a tournament-provided driver, and headed back to their Manhattan hotel.
“I think you can’t ask for much more,” Ivana said of the entire on-site experience Thursday. “We also showed how much we believed in ourselves. Today, we did an especially great job of staying in the moment. It was a great experience.”
There were two additional benefits to Thursday’s win: first, their doubles rankings (both in the low 160s) are sure to receive a nice bump in the next list that comes out; second, they are guaranteed of making at least $40,000 — by far the most money they’ve made in a week in their lives — by reaching the second round.
