SAN JOSE (August 1, 2021) – American Emina Bektas didn’t learn she would be competing in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic qualifying tournament until early Saturday morning, and now the former University of Michigan standout is headed to her first tour-level main draw following a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Australia’s Ellen Perez on Sunday.
Bektas, ranked 352nd in the world, was a qualifying alternate when the tournament’s No. 5 seed Veronika Kudermetova withdrew from the event due to illness. That moved fellow American Catherine McNally into the main draw and opened up a spot for Bektas.
A couple hours after learning she was in Saturday’s qualifying draw, she defeated American Katie Volynets 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to advance to Sunday’s final qualifying round.
In her opening round match on Monday, she will face seven-time WTA title winner and former World No. 4 Caroline Garcia in the second evening match on Stadium Court.
Bektas is one of four women to play their way into the main draw. Other qualifiers include Ana Konjuh of Croatia who defeated 16-year-old American Robin Montgomery 6-3, 7-6(2) and Korea’s Na-Lae Han who knocked off 17-year-old American Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
In the biggest upset of the day, Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove came from behind to defeat the qualifying tournament’s No. 1 seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-5.
The Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic main draw kicks off Monday at 10 am. The featured match of the day session will be a battle of Americans with No. 9 seed Alison Riske taking on two-time Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic finalist Coco Vandeweghe in the fourth match on Stadium. The evening session features a blockbuster match-up between British star Emma Raducanu and Zhang Shuai of China.
