By Michael J. Lewis
NEW YORK — The ball flew long from her opponent, and North Carolina senior Fiona Crawley grasped her mouth and covered it, which is not something the loquacious, energetic Crawley does much at all.
The bundle of 24–7 energy and enthusiasm walked over to her towel at the back of Court 6 here at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, fist-bumped a man in a Carolina cap, and slowly walked to the net, still seeming unsure if she could believe what she had just done.
Fiona Crawley vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
First round, U.S. Open
About 4 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN or ESPN+
View the women’s draw here.
After three fantastic seasons in Chapel Hill, including leading the Heels to the NCAA team championship in May, Crawley achieved another incredible first on Saturday: She qualified for the main draw of the U.S. Open.
Needing to win three matches over what turned out to be five days thanks to rain delays, the 21-year-old clinched her spot in the field of 128 with a convincing 6–3, 6–3 win over Australia’s Kimberly Birrell.
Crawley, who never met a silent moment she couldn’t fill with happy chatter, then spent about 30 minutes signing autographs and taking pictures with dozens of adoring new fans.
“It’s kind of a joke with my team that I kind of black out on court during my matches, and that’s what just happened to me,” Crawley said right after the match. “I was so nervous today because I wanted it so bad.
“Today was seriously a dream come true!”
Crawley rallied from a break down in the second set, and will play her first-round match Tuesday afternoon on Court 13 around 4 p.m. against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. ESPN televises the U.S. Open and streaming is available on ESPN+.
Looking on Saturday was UNC head coach Brian Kalbas and other members of the Tar Heel tennis family, beaming with pride.
When told earlier in the qualifying tournament that his No.1 singles player was a lot of fun to watch, with her constant exhortations of “come on!” and “let’s go!”, Kalbas smiled.
“She’s even more fun to coach, believe me.”
Kalbas confirmed this is the first time a current UNC player had qualified for the U.S. Open.
Ingrid Crawley, Fiona’s mom, acted completely calm during her daughter’s win, which came thanks to breaks of serve late in both sets.
When it ended, Ingrid Crawley said she was excited, win or lose, but couldn’t wait for husband Peter and son Liam to arrive this weekend to celebrate.
“This is the icing on the cake,” Ingrid Crawley said. “I’m so proud of her and so appreciate the support of the Carolina coaches and family who came out here all week to support her.”
Crawley is in the midst of a spectacular college career; recruited out of San Antonio, Texas, she began her freshman year at No. 6 on the singles depth chart and has worked her way to the top.
She boasts a 123–11 career singles record, including a 75–4 career mark in dual matches, and was the 2023 ITA Player of the Year.
Along with her team’s success, Crawley won the NCAA doubles title with partner Carson Tanguilig, and the duo will compete in the U.S. Open women’s doubles draw beginning next Wednesday as well.
“She has exceeded expectations by far,” said UNC associate head coach Tyler Thomson. “There was something different about Fiona in juniors that we saw. She has the ‘it’ factor. And her timing and ball-striking and consistency … she’s just more solid than everyone else.
“To me, that freshman year is what I’m most proud of, because that was so tough, coming in new and playing college tennis,” Crawley said. “I didn’t know what to expect and was just hoping I could do well.”
This week at the Open has seen so many highs and lows for Crawley; in her first-round match on Tuesday, she staved off two match points before prevailing in a third-set tiebreak, while the crowd roared, warming to her style and excitable nature.
Then, her second-round match against former Top 25 player Timea Babos, was a two-day affair thanks to persistent rain in New York on Thursday and Friday. Just like in her first-round match, Crawley got up a set and a break, but against Babos, she lost eight straight games to fall behind 3–0.
She rallied to win the next two games, but then rain knocked the players off the court for several hours. Eventually, Babos and Crawley batted to a third set super-tiebreak, and with the score tied at 5, the rains came again around 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
They didn’t return to the court until late Friday, an interminable wait for some, but not for Crawley. She quickly won the last five points of the match and was through to the finals.
“Honestly, the thing that helps me most is to just not think about it at all,” she said Friday. “I talk to friends, talk to my boyfriend, get out of my head, crack some jokes.
“And then today, waiting all day, I woke up and felt like I had gotten hit by a train,” Crawley said. “I was so, so tired from all the stopping and starting yesterday, and so today I was thinking about the clothes I need to pack to make it through the day. Like, I need comfy clothes, and I have these flowy white pants that I like but they’re going to get dirty. … Basically I was thinking about everything but tennis, and that helps.”
Now Crawley awaits a first-round matchup at the Open, and the excitement that will come with that. She’s earned $81,500 in prize money for making the main draw, but NCAA rules say Crawley is only allowed to take what she spends on expenses for a calendar year, which would of course be much less.
“College tennis definitely prepared me for this, the pressure of this week,” Crawley said. “It’s such an amazing atmosphere here, and it reminded me of the matches we play [at Carolina.]”
Michael J. Lewis is a longtime sportswriter who covered the ACC in the late 1990s for the Wilmington Star-News, and is now a freelance writer and book editor in New York. He mostly writes about tennis and college basketball.
Top photo via @UNC_wtennis; second photo by Michael J. Lewis
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