TULSA, Okla. -- Arizona State senior Desirae Krawczyk could almost taste the end of her collegiate season in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships on Wednesday afternoon at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
But she didn't want to hang it up yet, as the veteran -- ranked No. 35 -- battled back to win the match 6-0, 5-7, 6-4 against No. 49 Quinn Gleason of Notre Dame in an intense three-setter.
"I'm so happy and proud of Desirae," said head coach Sheila McInerney. "She battled incredibly well in the third set after squandering seven match points in the second set. She was in total control of the match early and let it slip -- she was down 4-2 in the third set and battled like a champ. I'm really proud of the way she competed."
Krawczyk blitzed through the first set and had Gleason right where she wanted her, cruising to a 6-0 victory.
The second belonged to Gleason, 7-5, forcing another three-set match for the Sun Devil senior.
Of the 10 matches decided by a third set -- not by a tiebreak -- Krawczyk had only won half of them, with the most recent against Auburn going in the loss column.
After going down 4-2 to start the third set, and being down 40-15, Krawczyk flipped the switch and came back to win the point. She would go on to win the next three straight points and win the set and match.
The senior advances to the round of 32 tomorrow against No. 16 Klara Fabikova of Cal. It becomes the second time in her four seasons that she has advanced to the second round. Krawczyk has never advanced past the second round.
Doubles pair Ebony Panoho and Alex Osborne will play their first match of the tournament against Darmouth's Taylor Ng and Kristina Mathis at 1 p.m. CT/11 a.m. PT. It can be watched here.