Ellicott City's Beatrice Capra on Friday took the first step toward qualifying as a wild card for the Australian Open, putting her on the same road she took to the U.S. Open last summer, when she was the first Marylander to play in a Grand Slam main singles draw in more than 13 years.
Capra won her first-round match Friday in a USTA eight-woman playoff in Atlanta, beating Shelby Rogers, 6-3, 6-2, in her first match since losing to Maria Sharapova in the third round in New York.
"I'm so excited to be here," said Capra, 18, who attended McDonogh before moving to Florida three years ago to sharpen her focus on tennis. "This is a big win for me. Mentally, to play someone like Shelby, who I'm good friends with, was tough."
Capra, ranked No. 225, said she injured her foot when she fell off a curb and sliced her foot on glass at her first tournament after the Open.
"I had to get stitches, and I sprained the whole bottom of my foot," she said. "It was awful. It was a freak accident, and it's put me out for two months."
Capra said she has decided not to turn pro and is keeping her educational options open, saying that Duke will be her choice should she choose to go to college.
As far as tennis is concerned, Capra is looking toward the future, not the past.
Her last wild card earned her a berth in the U.S. Open, where she dazzled the tennis world with her first victory over a top-100 player, Karolina Sprem, 6-1, 6-3, and then defeated 18th-ranked Aravane Rezai, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, to reach the third round. It was there that everything caught up to her, including the strong, swirling winds at center court, and she lost to Sharapova, 6-0, 6-0.
"The U.S. Open was a great experience," Capra said. "But I'm definitely trying to put it in the past. I have a lot of big tournaments coming up, and I want to stay focused on those tournaments. I don't want to be a one-time wonder."