Ahn defeated Kratzer in marathon match

Kristie Ahn has overcome many obstacles during her tennis career right ankle problem, stress fracture of left foot and even a neck injury suffered in a bus accident.

With all she’s fought through injury-wise, it wasn’t surprising to see the 24-year-old remain calm, cool and collected while teen standout Ashley Kratzer let her frustrations show at times during a grueling 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win by Ahn in the Hardee’s Pro Classic on Wednesday at the Westgate Tennis Center.

It was her fourth match of the tournament, while Ahn was playing in her first singles match.

“I’ve been playing a lot of matches, so to scrape that one out was good mentally for me,” Ahn said.

On the college level, Ahn helped Stanford to the 2013 NCAA women’s tennis team championship over Texas A&M by winning a three-set victory at No.

The stress fracture of her left foot came during her sophomore season and caused her to miss most of the season before she helped the team win the national title a year later.

Ahn is now playing well professionally and came into the Dothan tournament after reaching the singles quarterfinals and teaming with Quinn Gleason to win the doubles title at a USTA event at Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., last week.

She arrived in Dothan on Monday, played in a doubles match on Tuesday and then was in action Wednesday morning to begin her singles tournament against Kratzer.