Jennifer Brady had only two career wins on the Women’s Tennis Association’s main tour heading into the Australian Open.
The former Bruin, ranked No. 116 in singles, more than doubled that win total after one week at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne.
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She served as the underdog story of the women’s tournament, winning all three of her qualifying matches in three sets and advancing to the fourth round of the main draw where she eventually fell to Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who is ranked No. 79.
To get there, however, Brady performed one of the largest escape acts of the tournament.
In her second round match against Britain’s Heather Watson – ranked No. 81 – the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, native saved five match points and won an 86-minute third set 10-8. Next up was No. 14-seeded Elena Vesnina of Russia, who Brady upset in straight sets.
The hard-hitting American showed a strong serve in her six victories, hitting 42 aces, but in the loss to Lucic-Baroni she didn’t have any, and had seven double faults.
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In two years at UCLA, Brady went 57-12 at No. 2 and No. 3 singles and 45-9 in doubles with Robin Anderson. Brady’s final collegiate match was a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over Vanderbilt’s Frances Altick in the 2015 NCAA team final. She was a two-time singles All-American and a doubles All-American in her freshman year, and she won the Pac-12 singles title as a freshman.