News

FLUSHING, N.Y. – The USTA today announced that rising 19-year old Louisa Chirico, 2012 US Open girls’ champion Samantha Crawford, two-time NCAA singles champion Nicole Gibbs, 2015 USTA Girls’ 18s National Champion Sofia Kenin, 2015 NCAA singles champion Jamie Loeb, former world No. 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 US Open, as well as Oceane Dodin, of France.

The 2015 US Open will be played August 31-September 13 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 $3.3 million, with the ability to earn an additional $1 million in bonus prize money – for a total $4.3 million potential payout – based on their performances in the Emirates Airline US Open Series.

Chirco, 19, of Harrison, N.Y., ranked No. 119, 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, 20, of Atlanta, ranked No. 220, won the 2012 US Open girls’ singles title and will compete in the US Open main draw for the second time after winning the USTA Pro Circuit’s US Open Wild Card Challenge this summer. Crawford qualified for the 2014 US Open after receiving a qualifying wild card.

Gibbs, 22, of Santa Monica, Calif., ranked No. 117, reached the third round of the 2014 US Open after earning a wild card entry through the USTA’s US Open Wild Card Challenge. Gibbs won consecutive NCAA women’s singles titles at Stanford in 2012-13, becoming just the fifth player in history to do so.

Kenin, 16, 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.

Loeb, 20, 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 US Open.

Mattek-Sands, 30, of Phoenix, is a former world No. 30, currently ranked No. 99, 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 US Open singles main draw.

Vickery, 20, of Hollywood, Fla., is currently ranked No. 137 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 US Open with the accompanying wild card.

Dodin, 18, received her wild card through a reciprocal agreement with the French Tennis Federation. She is ranked No. 133

In addition to the eight US Open women’s singles main draw wild cards, the USTA also announced the eight women who have been awarded wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, which will be held August 25-28 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. One additional US Open qualifying wild card will be awarded to the winner of the 2015 US Open National Playoffs – Women’s Championship, taking place August 21-24 in New Haven, Conn.

Players receiving US Open qualifying wild cards are: 2015 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Player of the Year Robin Anderson (22, Matawan, N.J.); current world No. 7 junior Usue Arconada (16, College Park, Md.); 2015 USTA Girls’ 18s runner-up and 2013 US Open junior finalist Tornado Alicia Black (17, Boca Raton, Fla.); Vicky Duval (19, Bradenton, Fla.), the breakout star of the 2013 US 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.); and Bernarda Pera (20, North Haledon, N.J.).

The US Open is the highest-attended annual sporting event in the world. US Open tickets can be purchased: at USOpen.org; by calling Ticketmaster at 1-866-OPEN-TIX; at all Ticketmaster outlets; and at the box office at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.