USTA Announces Women’s Main Draw Wild Cards for US Open

August 13, 2019 | By Press Release
Di Lorenzo Crop
Photo Credit: Brian Coleman

 

The USTA today announced the 2019 US Open women’s singles wild card recipients. Americans Francesca Di Lorenzo, Coco Gauff, Caty McNallyand Whitney Osuigwe will join US Open Wild Card Challenge winner Kristie Ahn and USTA Girls’ 18s National Champion Katie Volynets as main draw wild card recipients. Australia’s Samantha Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, and France’s Diane Parry will also receive US Open main draw wild cards by virtue of the wild card exchange agreements between the USTA and those two Grand Slam nations.

The 2019 US Open main draw will be played Aug. 26-Sept. 8 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Both the men’s and women’s singles champions this year will earn $3.85 million.

Di Lorenzo, 22, of New Albany, Ohio, utilized a US Open qualifying wild card last year to reach the main draw, making her Grand Slam debut, where she reached the second round. The former NCAA doubles champion is currently ranked a career-best No. 128.

Gauff, 15, of Delray Beach, Fla., became the youngest qualifier in the history of Wimbledon in July, proceeding to reach fourth round in her Grand Slam debut. In her first professional event following Wimbledon, she partnered with McNally to win the Citi Open doubles title.

McNally, 17, of Cincinnati, qualified for the Wimbledon main draw in July and, in addition to winning the doubles title in Washington D.C., reached the singles semifinals of the Citi Open, notching the first three WTA wins of her career.  

Osuigwe, 17, of Bradenton, Fla., made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2018 US Open. The former French Open junior champion won the ITF World Tennis Tour W80 event earlier this year in Charlottesville, Va., and is currently ranked a career-best No. 105.

Ahn, 27, of Upper Saddle River, N.J., won the US Open Wild Card Challenge to earn her first US Open singles main draw appearance since 2008 when she qualified as a 16-year-old. The three-time All-American at Stanford University recently reached the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic as a qualifier.

Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek, Calif., won the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championship and will make her US Open main draw debut.

Parry, 16, will make her US Open main draw debut after winning the French Federation’s wild card playoff. The USTA and French Federation exchanged main draw wild cards into the French and US Opens this year for one man and woman from the opposite country. American Lauren Davis earned the reciprocal wild card into Roland Garros this year, where she reached the second round.

Stosur, 35, the 2011 US Open champion, will make her 15th US Open main draw appearance after being awarded Tennis Australia’s reciprocal wild card. Earlier this year, Osuigwe made her Australian Open main debut after earning a wild card due to the reciprocal wild card arrangement between the USTA and Tennis Australia.

The USTA also announced the nine women who have been awarded wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, taking place August 19-23 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, as part of US Open Fan Week.

The recipients are: Hailey Baptiste (17, Washington, D.C.), who earned her first-career WTA win last month at the Citi Open; Reese Brantmeier (14, Whitewater, Wis.), the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s singles champion; Caroline Dolehide (20, Hinsdale, Ill.), who recently won the singles silver medal and doubles gold medal at the Pan American Games; Vicky Duval (23, Miami), who is looking to reach her first Grand Slam main draw since returning to the WTA Tour in 2017 following a cancer diagnosis; Jamie Loeb (24, Ossining, N.Y.), the 2015 NCAA singles champion; Bethanie Mattek-Sands (33, Rochester, Minn.), a five-time Grand Slam doubles champion, including the 2016 US Open doubles champion; Emma Navarro (18, Charleston, S.C.), the USTA Girls’ 18s runner-up and 2019 French Open girls’ singles finalist; Shelby Rogers (26, Charleston, S.C.), a two-time finalist on the WTA Tour who is continuing her comeback from knee surgery; and Katrina Scott (15, Woodland Hills, Calif.), one of the top rising American juniors.

 

 


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