You never know: Corley sisters win in US Open debut (updated)

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Even the most diehard tennis fan probably doesn’t have Ivana and Carmen Corley on their radar.

But because of the Canucks This Week post, we’ve seen their name – mostly in doubles – in more U.S.-based ITF tournament draws than you can count.

They are from the tennis (non) hotbed of … Alburquerque, New Mexico. And on Thursday, the sisters won their first career Grand Slam match.

Given a wild card into the tournament, they beat the solid WTA Tour pros Ekaterina Alexandrova and Anna Blinkova in a hurry: 6-1, 6-3 in 62 minutes.

UPDATE: On Friday, the Corley sisters lost a close one in the second round to No. 10 seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3.

Carmen, 22 and Ivana, 24, intersected at the University of Oklahoma, as both played there before turning pro in January.

They played little at the ITF junior level; neither broke the top 600 and played mostly Grade 4 and Grade 5 events – when they played.

But they’re at career highs in doubles – Ivana at No. 162, Carmen at No. 163 after making the semifinals at the WTA 250 in Cleveland last week.

That was the first WTA-level event of their careers.

And now, their first Grand Slam, and their first Grand Slam win.

The sisters are kind of a big deal in Albuquerque.

The Corley’s previous best results this year were a final together at a $60K ITF in Switzerland in April, and back-to-back titles at $25K events in Santo Domingo in March.

Last year, they got to the final of the big Challenger in Granby, Quebec. and won another ITF in Las Vegas.

And now – a shocking and unexpected victory on the biggest stage in tennis.

They will play No. 10 seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the second round.

Their career earnings this year are identical: $11,942 ($2,070 each just from that Cleveland result).

They’ll share … $25,000 US for winning that first round – so more than they’ve earned all year. And 30 spots in the doubles rankings.

There’s another tennis-playing Corley, too: cousin Paris.

Great story.

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