Bryan's Jacy Smith advances to Round of 16 at Grand Slam

Precocious as she may be, Jacy Smith is only 11 years old and before Monday she had never heard of Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

Smith was filled in on the former winner of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the French Open after she earned a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Chelsea Kung of Fort Worth in the opening round of the Girls 12 Singles competition at the Capsher Texas Grand Slam on Monday morning.

The Bryan girl, who is playing in her first Grand Slam, is one of eight entries seeded 9-16 in the field that features 60 of the top tennis players in the state.

In the second round Monday afternoon, Smith beat Samantha Wong of Grapevine 6-3, 6-1. Smith advanced to face fourth-seeded Hannah Sutton of Austin in the round of 16 at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Bryan High.

Smith won a see-saw battle in her first match, dropping five consecutive games in the first set before rallying to win the next four games and later grab the tiebreaker.

"I knew I could fight back," Smith said. "I just had to keep my mind calm and stay focused. I tried to be more consistent and that worked.

"The other girl was really tough. I feel like I could have played a little bit better, but she was really good."

Kung, a 10-year-old who will be a fifth grader this fall, also was playing in her first Grand Slam. She seemed to be on her way to an easy first set when she reeled off five consecutive games as unforced errors and double faults plagued Smith.

It was that stretch that brought to mind Goolagong Cawley, one of the top women's players in the world during the 1970s. The Aussie was known for occasional lapses in play, when she was said to have gone walkabout.

Smith took a brief detour in the second set when she was broken on a double fault and then Kung held at love to take a 2-1 lead. However, Smith found her way back into the set.

"I think I started to think that she would give it to me, but she didn't," Smith said. "I had to fight for it."

Smith is a home-schooler who will be in the sixth grade this fall. She has been playing tennis for six years, starting with teacher Genie McMullan and now working with Vicki Markowsky and Emilie Foster.

The Girls 12 bracket started play Monday morning, three days later than some of the divisions with twice or three times as many entries. Smith watched a friend's brother play a match while waiting to make her debut in the Grand Slam.

"I was a little nervous waiting and waiting," Smith said.

Smith and Kung are similar in size, petite compared to the taller, more sturdy girls playing matches on the adjacent courts. They played their match without arguing over line calls. A few times during change-overs, Smith thumbed through a small notebook on strategy. The notebook, along with Smith's catalogue of experience, should be greatly enhanced after the Grand Slam.

The local player went into the event focused more on how she played than on how far she went in the tournament.

"I'd like to play my best, to fight for every game and every point," Smith said.

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NOTES -- College Station's Frankie Colunga started strong but was unable to upset the No. 1 seed in the Boys 16 Singles competition Monday afternoon at the Texas A&M intramural courts. Bayo Phillips of Houston rallied to beat the A&M Consolidated junior-to-be 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the round of 32. Colunga will play in the fourth round of the consolation bracket at 8 a.m. Tuesday.