Six of Eight Recipients are 20 Years Old or Younger
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., August 18, 2004 – The USTA announced that Ashley Harkleroad (Wesley Chapel, Fla.), Angela Haynes (Compton, Calif.), Jamea Jackson (Bradenton, Fla.), Jessica Kirkland (Dayton, Ohio), Amber Liu (La Mesa, Calif.), Bethanie Mattek (Boca Raton, Fla.), Kelly McCain (Tampa, Fla.) and Alexandra Stevenson (San Diego) have been awarded main draw women’s singles wild card entries into the 2004 US Open Tennis Championships, which will be played August 30 - September 12 at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The US Open Women’s Singles Championship is presented by JPMorgan Chase.
Six of the eight recipients are 20 years of age or younger.
Harkleroad, 20, is currently ranked No. 93 in the WTA Tour Rankings, however was No. 115 at the time of the US Open entry deadline. Last month she upset No. 16 Patty Schnyder in the first round of the WTA Tour event in San Diego and defeated No. 66 Shinobu Asagoe in first round of the WTA Tour event in Los Angeles. Harkleroad, a former top 40 player, began the year by reaching her first career WTA Tour final in Auckland.
Haynes, 19, is currently ranked No. 188 in the WTA Tour Rankings. She earned a career-high ranking of No. 148 on March 24 after reaching the final at the USTA Pro Circuit event in El Paso, Texas. She also reached the semifinals of the USTA Challenger in Charlottesville, Va. In 2003, Haynes improved her WTA Tour ranking more than 600 spots.
Jackson, who will turn 18 on September 7, earned a career-high WTA Tour ranking of No. 189 last week after reaching the semifinals of the USTA Pro Circuit $50,000 Challenger in Louisville, Ky. She has two wins over top 100 players this year, posting her first career win on the WTA Tour over No. 90 Myriam Casanova in Miami and defeating No. 78 Mara Santagelo in the first round of Birmingham. Jackson has a 22-5 record on the USTA Pro Circuit this season and was a finalist at the USTA $50,000 Challenger in Charlottesville, Va.
Kirkland, 16, earned the wild card as the winner of the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championship. She defeated Andrea Remynse in the final Sunday and did not lose a set in seven matches en route to her third USTA national title. She is currently ranked No. 252 on the WTA Tour and made her tour debut last month at Los Angeles, defeating No. 57 Tathiana Garbin in the first round. In April, Kirkland won two consecutive ITF $25,000 events in Mexico.
Liu, 20, won her second consecutive NCAA Division I singles title as a sophomore after leading Stanford University to the team title in May. She is currently ranked No. 432 on the WTA Tour and played in two tour events this summer. Liu was awarded a wild card into the 2001 US Open after winning the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championship.
Mattek, 19, is currently ranked No. 161 on the WTA Tour. She won the USTA $50,000 Challenger in Schenectady, N.Y., in July in her first main draw appearance of the year after being hampered by tendonitis in her knee. Earlier this month, she advanced through qualifying at the WTA Tour event in Montreal, losing in the second round of the main draw to No. 14 Vera Zvonareva, and reached the second round of Vancouver (where she won her first career WTA Tour doubles title).
McCain, 21, is currently ranked No. 135 on the WTA Tour. She turned professional last summer after her sophomore season at Duke University. In her WTA Tour debut in April, she upset No. 57 Arantxa Parra before losing to Serena Williams in Charleston. This summer, she made her Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the Roland Garros and also qualified at the WTA Tour event in Birmingham, upsetting No. 46 Tina Pisnik in the first round. McCain began the year by winning the USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 event in Boca Raton, Fla., her third professional singles title.
Stevenson, 23, is a former top 20 player currently ranked No. 142 on the WTA Tour. The former Wimbledon semifinalist has been hampered by tendonitis in her right shoulder much of the season and has played in the main draw in six WTA Tour events this season. She was one of two players who were named to the U.S. Fed Cup team for each round last year and was a bronze medalist in singles at the 1999 Pan Am Games.
In addition to the eight US Open main draw women’s singles wild cards, the USTA also announced the nine women who have been awarded wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, which will be held August 24-27 at the USTA National Tennis Center.
Seven of the nine qualifying wild card recipients are 20 years of age or younger.
Players receiving US Open qualifying wild cards are: Sarah Fansler (16, Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Alexa Glatch (who will turn 15 on Sept. 10, Newport Beach, Calif.), Vania King (15, Long Beach, Calif.), Alexandra Mueller (16, Abington, Pa.), Jessica Nguyen (16, Chatsworth, Calif.), Jewel Peterson (who will turn 23 on Sept. 10, College Park, Ga.), Andrea Remynse (15, Battle Creek, Mich.), Neha Uberoi (18, Boca Raton, Fla.) and Shikha Uberoi (21, Boca Raton, Fla.).
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The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. It owns and operates the US Open, the largest annually attended sporting event in the world and, in 2004, launched the US Open Series which links 10 summer hard court tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns the 96 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S., and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. A not-for-profit organization with more than 675,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass roots to the professional levels. For more information on the USTA, log on to usta.com.