PEACHTREE CORNERS, GA - There are certainly better ways to start a match than scoring only one point in the first game, but that didn’t seem to bother Angie Walker and Augie Ge in their first-round mixed doubles match Tuesday afternoon.

The No. 31 seeds dropped Game 1 in just seven minutes by a 1-11 score line against Lingwei Kong and Spencer Smith, but they took the next two games 11-9, 11-8 to secure their opening victory.

For Walker and Ge, the key was weathering the storm of their opponents’ high level out of the gate and waiting for the right opportunities to attack.

“Spencer came in with some really good drives, and Lingwei was so solid resetting and countering,” Ge said of the early deficit. “Once we felt like their level may have dropped a little bit, we really tried to capitalize and put a lot of energy into the court.”

With Ge being left-handed, the match saw different patterns develop with him on the right and Walker on left, which is uncommon in mixed doubles.

“I’m still working on getting the most out of the advantages that come with being a lefty, but one aspect of it in mixed is that we can squeeze the girl on the right, and then my partner can ernie with her forehand,” he explained. “That’s a play we were trying to utilize.”

With the win, Walker and Ge are into Wednesday’s Round of 32 where they will take on No. 4 seeds JW Johnson and Jorja Johnson.