New Yorkers Loeb and Chirico Receive U.S. Open Wild Card Berths
The USTA has announced that 2015 NCAA Singles Champion Jamie Loeb, rising 19-year-old Louisa Chirico, 2012 U.S. Open Girls Champion Samantha Crawford, two-time NCAA singles champion Nicole Gibbs, 2015 USTA Girls 18s National Champion Sofia Kenin, former world number 30 Bethanie Mattek-Sands and 2013 USTA Girls 18s National Champion Sachia Vickery have been awarded women’s singles main draw wild card entries into the 2015 U.S. Open, as well as Oceane Dodin of France.
The 2015 U.S. Open will be played Aug. 31-Sept. 13 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. Both the men’s and women’s singles champions this year will earn $3.3 million, with the ability to earn an additional $1 million in bonus prize money–for a total $4.3 million potential payout–based upon their performances in the Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series.
Loeb of Ossining, N.Y. is the 2015 NCAA Women’s Singles Champion, who recently completed her sophomore year at the University of North Carolina. Loeb is a former standout junior who has gone 84-9 in her two collegiate seasons. She won the inaugural American Collegiate Invitational at last year’s U.S. Open.
Chirco of Harrison, N.Y., ranked 119th, is a former Wimbledon and French Open Girls Semifinalist who made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2015 French Open after winning the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge. She reached her first WTA quarterfinal this summer in Washington, D.C.
Crawford of Atlanta, ranked 220th in the world, won the 2012 U.S. Open Girls Singles Title and will compete in the U.S. Open main draw for the second time after winning the USTA Pro Circuit’s U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge this summer. Crawford qualified for the 2014 U.S. Open after receiving a qualifying wild card.
Gibbs of Santa Monica, Calif., ranked 117th in the world, reached the third round of the 2014 U.S. Open after earning a wild card entry through the USTA’s U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge. Gibbs won consecutive NCAA women’s singles titles at Stanford in 2012-2013, becoming just the fifth player in history to do so.
Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla. is the 2015 USTA Girls 18s National Champion. Kenin is a top-10 world-ranked junior who won the prestigious Orange Bowl Junior Championship in December.
Mattek-Sands of Phoenix, is a former world number 30, currently ranked 99th in the world, who this year qualified and reached the third round at Wimbledon, in addition to winning doubles titles at the French and Australian Opens. She is making her 14th appearance in the U.S. Open singles main draw.
Vickery of Hollywood, Fla., is currently ranked 137th after a grass-court season in which she qualified for Wimbledon and reached the quarterfinals at the WTA event in Nottingham. Vickery won the USTA Girls 18s National Title in 2013 and advanced to the second round of the U.S. Open with the accompanying wild card.
Dodin received her wild card through a reciprocal agreement with the French Tennis Federation. She is currently ranked 133rd in the world.
In addition to the eight U.S. Open Women’s Singles Main Draw wild cards, the USTA also announced the eight women who have been awarded wild card entries into the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament, which will be held Aug. 25-28 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. One additional U.S. Open qualifying wild card will be awarded to the winner of the 2015 US Open National Playoffs–Women’s Championship, taking place Aug. 21-24 in New Haven, Conn.
Players receiving U.S. Open qualifying wild cards are:
►2015 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Player of the Year Robin Anderson (22, Matawan, N.J.)
►Current world number seven junior Usue Arconada (16, College Park, Md.)
►2015 USTA Girls 18s runner-up and 2013 U.S. Open junior finalist Tornado Alicia Black (17, Boca Raton, Fla.)
►Vicky Duval (19, Bradenton, Fla.), the breakout star of the 2013 U.S. Open, who recently returned to competition following a year-long recovery from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
►2015 USTA Girls 18s semifinalist Raveena Kingsley (17, Fulton, Md.)
►Top 15-year-old Claire Liu (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
►Jessica Pegula (21, Buffalo, N.Y.)
►Bernarda Pera (20, North Haledon, N.J.)
