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US Open announces Jr. wildcards

August 19, 2012

FLUSHING, N.Y. — The USTA announced today the names of six boys and eight girls who have been offered wild card entries into the 2012 US Open boys’ and girls’ singles championships. Two additional boys’ main draw wild cards are pending. The US Open Junior Championships will be played September 2-9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

Girls include Victoria Duval, who also will compete in the 2012 US Open women’s singles main draw after winning the USTA Girls’ 18s singles title last week; Samantha Crawford, who will compete in the 2012 US Open doubles main draw with partner Alexandra Kiick as the USTA Girls’ 18s doubles champions; USTA Girls’ 16s singles champion Kimberly Yee; and local favorite Jamie Loeb of Ossining, N.Y.

Boys include USTA International Spring Championships singles finalist Stefan Kozlov, the youngest player at age 14, who also won back-to-back singles titles in 2010 and 2011 at the AEGON Junior International, a premier international junior tournaments for players ages 14 and under in Europe; 2012 USTA Boys’ 16s singles champion Henrik Wiersholm, who in 2011 became the first American since 2005 to win the boys’ title at Les Petits As, a highly esteemed junior tournament in France; 2012 Easter Bowl quarterfinalist Jared Hiltzik, who will play for the University of Illinois in the fall; and Harrison Adams, who has been competing extensively on the USTA Pro Circuit this year and won the doubles title at the $10,000 event in Joplin, Mo., this summer.

In addition to the main draw wild cards, the USTA has also announced the names of six girls and four boys who have been offered wild card entries into the junior qualifying tournament, which will be played August 31 and September 1. Two additional boys’ qualifying wild cards are pending.

Girls’ qualifying wild cards have been offered to Alicia Black (14, Boca Raton, Fla.), Louisa Chirico (16, Harrison, N.Y.), Nicole Frenkel (14, Winchester, Ma.), Emma Higuchi (14, Los Angeles), Katerina Stewart (15, Miami), and Japanese high school champion Erina Hayashi (18, Japan). Boys’ qualifying wild cards have been offered to Jared Donaldson (15, Cumberland, R.I.), Martin Redlicki (16, Hawthorn Woods, Ill.), Mitch Stewart (16, Federal Way, Wash.), and Japanese high school champion Shotaro Goto (18, Japan).

In 2011, Grace Min won the US Open girls’ title, upsetting No. 1 seed Caroline Garcia of France, 7-5, 7-6(3), in the final. Min, unseeded in the tournament, was the first U.S. girl to win the title since Coco Vandeweghe in 2008. In 2010, Jack Sock defeated Denis Kudla in an All-American final and became the first U.S. boy to win the US Open boys’ singles title since Andy Roddick in 2000. Three US Open junior champions – Roddick, Lindsay Davenport (1992) and Stefan Edberg (1983) – went on to win the US Open singles title, as did junior runners-up Roger Federer (1998), Boris Becker (1984), Svetlana Kuznetsova (2001) and Martina Hingis (1994).

The 2012 US Open will be held Monday, August 27, through Sunday, September 9. Tickets for the 2012 US Open can be purchased four ways: 1) at USOpen.org; 2) by calling Ticketmaster at 1-866-OPEN-TIX; 3) at all Ticketmaster outlets; or 4) at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center box office. American Express is the Official Card of the US Open.