Secord and Hazelitt Win US Open Qualifying Wild Card Playoffs, Join Seven US Teens In Qualifying; Few Seeded Americans at College Park J300, Colombo Beats Top Seed to Qualify; Gauff Wins Cincinnati Open

©Colette Lewis 2026--
College Park MD--

Men's and women's qualifying begins Monday at the US Open, with two US juniors joining five of their counterparts in the draw after winning two matches today in the new qualifying wild card playoff.

Sixteen-year-old Jordyn Hazelitt defeated Shannon Lam 6-2, 7-6(2) in the first match and Melije Clarke 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 to earn her wild card into women's qualifying. 

She joins 17-year-old Julieta Pareja and 16-year-olds Janae Preston, Kristina Penickova and Annika Penickova in the draw.

Seventeen-year-old Jack Secord, a semifinalist in Kalamazoo last week, defeated Ozan Baris(Michigan State) 3-6, 6-2, 11-9 and Dali Blanch 6-4, 6-2 to win the men's qualifying wild card playoff, joining 17-year-old Andy Johnson and 16-year-olds Jordan Lee and Michael Antonius in the draw.

Only two of the seven US juniors will be in action Monday: Pareja faces No. 9 seed Kayla Day and Lee plays Mark Lajal of Estonia, both at 11 a.m.

The full qualifying schedule is here.

The mixed doubles qualifying also begins Monday.

With the qualifying at the World Tennis J300 College Park now complete, with two rounds played today at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, the draws have been released. Below are the seeds, wild cards and qualifiers. Jordyn Hazelitt was a late withdrawal, due to winning the women's qualifying playoff (Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who lost to Clarke in the first round this morning did make the trip from New York and will play here tomorrow. Scarlett Fagan is the lucky loser in for Hazelitt. 

There are only four Americans seeded, in total, primarily because so many are in qualifying in New York.

The seeds do not play until Tuesday, but all those who won two matches today to advance to the main draw are on Monday's schedule.

College Park J300 seeds
Boys
1. Vincent Reisach(GER)
2. Yannik Alvarex(PUR)
3. Arnav Paparkar(IND)
4. Dan Brand(ISR)
5. Ryan Cozad(USA)
6. Emilio Camacho(ECU)
7. Tanishk Konduri(USA)
8. Conner Doig(RSA)
9. Pedro Henrique Chabalgoity(BRA)
10. Vihaan Reddy(USA)
11. Kirill Filaretov(RUS)
12. Savva Rybkin(RUS)
13. Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga(COL)
14. Ntungamili Raguin(BOT)
15. Safir Azam(USA)
16. Benjamin Azar(CAN)

Wild cards: (all USA)

Mason Vaughan

Kamil Stolarczyk

Nicolas Pedraza

Erik Schinnerer

Jerrid Gains Jr

Joseph Lee

Qualifiers: (USA unless noted)

Kayden Colombo

Antoine Genereux(CAN)

Antoine Clavel(CAN)

Kahven Singh

Charles Minvielle

Tomas Laukys

Girls

1. Ksenia Efremova(FRA)

2. Anna Pushkareva(RUS)

3. Mariia Makarova(RUS)

4. Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi(ARG)

5. Paola Pinera Celorio(ESP)

6. Felitsata Dorofeeva-Rybas(RUS)

7. Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi(IND)

8. Yihan Qu(CHN)

9. Yushan Shao(CHN)

10. Yu Jun Lin(CHN)

11. Maia Ilinca Burcescu(ROU)

12. Maria Valentina Pop(ROU)

13. Renee Alame(AUS)

14. Antonina Sushkova(UKR)

15. Yu-Chen Lin(TPE)

16. Olivia Traynor(USA)

Wild cards (all USA):

Shristi Selvan

Camille Allegre

Reiley Rhodes

Priscilla Sirichantho

Sadira Ouyang

Aarini Bhattacharya

Qualifiers (USA unless noted):

Thara Gowda

Carlota Moreno

Brooke Wallman

Clemence Mercier(CAN)

Sera Park(KOR)

Rose Biria

WT junior No. 120 Thara Gowda, the top seed in the girls qualifying, trailed 6-2 in the match tiebreaker in her second round match with Anastasia Pleskun, but won eight of the next 10 points to move on to the final round of qualifying, where she defeated Sena Yoon 6-4, 6-0.

Kai Thompson of Hong Kong, the top seed in the boys qualifying, wasn't as fortunate, falling to Kayden Colombo 6-2, 6-2 in the final round after escaping with a 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 win in the second round over Dhakshish Aryan Basavaraju. Thompson, No. 34 in the WT junior rankings was automatically withdrawn from the junior event when he received entry into an M15, so his only route to compete in College Park was as a wild card in qualifying, but Colombo's big serve and powerful ground strokes were too much for him this afternoon.

"I've been working on my serve and kind of made a few changes," said the 6-foot-5 17-year-old from Marietta Georgia, who is training at the USTA Campus in Lake Nona with National Coach Troy Hahn. "I liked how I hit the serve today. He's a great player, his level is definitely there for the main draw, but I played pretty good today."

Colombo said he has not had his serve clocked, but estimates it could be "in the 130 range maybe." When that shot is clicking, he believes he can compete with anyone, and he is not ruling out a deep run in the main draw.

"I think I definitely have the game, I have what it takes to win this tournament," said Colombo, who admits his resemblance to Tommy Paul had been remarked on at the USTA National Campus. "It's not going to be easy, there is a ton of great players. But I'm going to go out there, compete, play the right way, look to come forward, serve and volley, play that big style of tennis that can hopefully translate to the pros one day. I'm ready to play anyone, anywhere, anytime. Let's go."

Colombo will face Oluwaseun Peter Ogunsakin of Nigeria in the first round Monday.

Live scoring is available (not point by point until matches are chaired) at iOnCourt.

At the Cincinnati Open today, Coco Gauff won her second WTA 1000 title in that city, beating Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 in the final. The last time Gauff won Cincinnati, in 2023, she went on to win her first major at the US Open.

In the men's final, Arthur Fils of France won his first ATP Masters 1000 title, beating Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 6-0. 

Rhodes, Godoy Win J100 Chestertown Titles; Two Rounds of College Park Qualifying Set for Sunday; Pegula and Gauff Meet for Cincinnati Title; Tiafoe Beats Nakashima, Faces Fils in Cincy Final; Kenin, Kypson Receive US Open Wild Cards

The warmup tournament for the World Tennis J300 in College Park is a J100 in Chestertown Maryland and Sebastian Inaki Godoy played both of them, claiming his second title of the year at the 100 level, then required to play qualifying on the same day in College Park.

The 16-year-old Texan, seeded No. 6. defeated top seed Antoine Genereaux of Canada 6-4, 6-3 in today's Chestertown final, then drove the 90-minutes to College Park, where he beat Nikita Garfurov of Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-0. Godoy could play two more matches on Sunday, with the second and third round of qualifying on Sunday. Usually two rounds of qualifying are played Saturday, but with wet courts that wasn't possible and it gave Godoy a realistic opportunity to compete in both tournaments; three matches in a day, including a final, might have been too much to ask.

The girls singles title in Chestertown went to 16-year-old Reiley Rhodes, who picked up her second J100 title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Kalista Papadopoulos. Rhodes didn't lose more than four games in any of her five victories this week. Like Godoy, Papadopoulos also was in the qualifying at College Park; she lost to Kathryn Cragg 6-4, 6-3. Rhodes was listed in the qualifying, but she may have received a wild card into the main draw.

The girls doubles title went to unseeded Anna Scott Laney and Daniella Sales, who beat No. 4 seeds Kaya Baker and Canadaian Elisabeth Djabourian 6-2, 7-6(4) in the final.

Genereux and Rafael Bote of Canada, the top seds in boys doubles, won the title with a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 8 seeds Achyuth Binu and Chase Bowden.

When we arrived in College Park this evening, the wet weather had passed but the first round of the qualifying was still going, finishing after 9 p.m. due to wet weather in the area earlier in the day. The girls second round of qualifying has an 8:30 a.m. start Sunday, with top seed Thara Gowda and No. 2 seed Carlota Moreno taking the courts for the first time. Boys top qualifying seed Kai Thompson of Hong Kong, who received a wild card into qualifying, defeated Oscar Puyplat 6-2, 6-3 in his first round qualifying match. Two rounds will be played, and those who qualify will play again on Monday.

It will be an all-American final at the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open Sunday, after No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula defeated No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 this afternoon, and No. 4 seed Coco Gauff beat unseeed Sara Bejlek of Czechia 6-4, 6-1 to close out the night.

Tonight in Cincinnati, No. 17 seed Frances Tiafoe reached a second ATP Masters 1000 final with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Brandon Nakashima(Virginia), the 27 seed. Tiafoe, a finalist in Cincinnati two years ago, losing to champion Jannik Sinner, has never won an ATP Masters 1000 title.

Tiafoe will face No. 21 seed Arthur Fils of France, who defeated No. 7 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy 6-3, 6-4.

The USTA announced today that Sofia Kenin and Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) are the last wild card recipients for the US Open main draw, although Kenin is close to direct entry and there could be other withdrawals before qualifying begins Monday.

In the pre-qualifying event tomorrow at the USTA BJK National Tennis Center, Shannon Lam has replaced Welles Newman and will play Jordyn Hazelitt, while Melije Clarke will face Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann. 

For the men's qualifying wild card playoff, Jack Secord will play Ozan Baris(Michigan State) and Keaton Hance will face Dali Blanch.

My Recap of Kalamazoo 18 Championships; College Park J300 Qualifying Begins Saturday; NCAA Wins Stay of Ruling Extending Eligibility; Nakashima Beats Fritz, Faces Tiafoe in Cincinnati Open Semifinal; Blanch Receives Winston-Salem and US Open Main Draw Wild Cards

The last two recaps of National Championships week at Tennis Recruiting Network were published today, with my article on the titles for Jack Kennedy in singles and Noah Johnston and Yannik Alvarez in doubles going up this morning, and Rhiannon Potkey's article on Thea Frodin and Bella Payne and Sara Shumate's titles in San Diego following this afternoon.

As I mentioned yesterday, because the 18s final lasted only three games, there will be no videos this year on my YouTube channel. There is a recording of what did transpire at the livestream page.

Michael J. Lewis (no relation) is a New York-based journalist who follows the local juniors, and he had plenty to write about this week, with the National titles for Kamil Stolarczyk, Kennedy and Gabby Villegas.

His Long Island Press article on Kennedy is here, and his article of 14s champion Villegas is here. Look for one on Stolarczyk next month.

I'll be covering the ITF J300 in College Park Maryland for the 12th year beginning on Sunday, but the qualifying will begin Saturday and is scheduled for six indoor courts at the Junior Tennis Champions Center due to expected rain. The 48-player draw for the boys is full; the girls has only two byes, and all eight of the seeds in both girls and boys draws are in the World Tennis Top 200. Kai Thompson of Hong Kong, No. 34 in the WT junior rankings, is the top seed in boys qualifying. Thara Gowda, a quarterfinalist at last week's USTA 18s Nationals in San Diego, is the top seed; she and Carlota Moreno have the first round byes.

There was an important ruling today in the NCAA's Wisne case, in which a Colorado judge approved a fifth year of eligibility for those who completed their eligibility in 2026 before the adoption of a five-for-five standard set to begin in 2027. This is not likely to be the end of the court battles, but the NCAA provided this statement on X after the ruling.

There is no other statement from the NCAA that I can find, but some college tennis rosters for this fall may look different than they did a week ago with this stay.

Brandon Nakashima and Frances Tiafoe will face off in Saturday's semifinals of the ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati Open after No. 27 seed Nakashima, a finalist at the Montreal 1000 two weeks ago, defeated No. 6 seed Taylor Fritz 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3 this afternoon, and No. 17 seed Frances Tiafoe beat No. 10 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 7-6(2), 7-5 tonight. The winner of that match will play the winner of Saturday's other semifinal between No. 7 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy and No. 21 seed Arthur Fils of France in Sunday's final

Jessica Pegula[3] will face Iga Swiatek[7] of Poland in one of Saturday's semifinals; the winner of the Coco Gauff[4] and Marta Kostyuk[7] quarterfinal tonight will play Sara Bejlek of Czechia, who beat Madison Keys[20] 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) this afternoon.

2025 Kalamazoo 18s champion Darwin Blanch received a US Open main draw wild card according to today's USTA announcement; Martin Damm moved into the main draw on his own ranking after the withdrawals of Ethan Quinn(Georgia) and Canadian Gabriel Diallo(Kentucky), and Blanch was given Damm's previously announced wild card. There is still one men's main draw wild card to be announced.

Blanch also received a wild card into next week's Winston-Salem Open ATP 250, which he could not have used if he were playing in US Open qualifying. Damm also received a Winston-Salem wild card, as did Wimbledon boys finalist Cruz Hewitt, who will not be competing in New York.

Qualifying for Winston-Salem begins tomorrow, with Wake Forest's DK Suresh, Luca Pow and Mees Rottgering in the 16-player field, with Pow and US Open Collegiate playoff winner Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) receiving qualifying wild cards. TCU's rising junior Roger Pascual of Spain is also in the qualifying field. 

My Recap and Video Hightlights of Kalamazoo 16s Final; US Open Announces Big Increase in Prize Money; Eight Americans Reach Cincinnati Open Masters 1000 Quarterfinals

The Tennis Recruiting Network is more three-quarters of the way through its National Championship Week, with the articles on the 16s championships available today.

My article on Kamil Stolarczyk's sweep of the titles last weekend in Kalamazoo can be found here. My article on Jack Kennedy's title will be published Friday morning.

My video of the 16s final deviates from the previous years because the match was not played on George Acker Center Court, so the angle for Court 3 is not as good. There will not be any videos of the 18s final this year, due to Lee's retirement early in the first set.

The USTA announced this year's prize money quite a bit later than usual, but the news is good, as the increases are substantial and sufficient to avoid the media boycott that the top players implemented at Roland Garros this year. The announcement of the introduction of a new Grand Slam Player Council is also is at the request of the top players. The complete release:

US Open Offers Largest Player Compensation Package in Professional Tennis History at $108 Million,  an Increase of 20 Percent from 2025  Represents the second consecutive year of 20 percent increase and a 44 percent increase in compensation over two years Increased prize money sets new Grand Slam records for both singles champion and first-round payouts Includes a $2 million contribution to a new US Open Player Support Program, equally split between men and women US Open unites with other Grand Slams to establish a new Grand Slam Player Council FLUSHING, N.Y., August 20, 2026 –  The United States Tennis Association is once again offering the largest player compensation package in professional tennis history, reaching $108 million at the 2026 US Open. This represents a 20 percent increase from the previous record set at the 2025 US Open ($90 million) - the second consecutive year of a 20 percent increase and a 44 percent increase in total compensation over two years. Players across the event will enjoy significant increases, including the largest Grand Slam payments in history for Main Draw Singles Champions at $5.5 million and first-round singles payout at $140,000. The compensation package also includes a new Player Support Program seeded with an initial $2 million commitment in 2026, equally split between men and women players.   Today’s historic, record-setting and ground-breaking actions reflect the ongoing and deep commitment of the USTA and US Open to supporting all players who compete at the US Open, especially emerging and lower-ranked competitors.   USTA CEO Craig Tiley said, “This is a significant first step in a multi-year investment in athletes as the US Open continues to be the best economic opportunity for players and the most valuable platform in tennis for players, fans and partners. We are proud to deliver record-setting prize money and expanded player benefits as well as providing a new platform to work together with players.”   New US Open Player Support Program and Grand Slam Player Council   The four Grand Slams are aligned on the importance of supporting players throughout and after their playing careers. The US Open will become the first Grand Slam to establish a Player Support Program. As part of the total 2026 compensation, the US Open committed an initial $2 million, equally split between men and women players, which will be held in an escrow account pending the finalization of details of the new program, with guidance and input from the newly formed Grand Slam Player Council. Designed to complement existing end-of-career pension funds, this new US Open program will bring a range of benefits for mid-career life events and retirement transitions. It will be built upon a simple definition of player eligibility without reliance on ranking tiers, making the program available to US Open main draw singles and doubles competitors.    Additionally, in a separate Grand Slam announcement today, the US Open joined the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, and Wimbledon to form a new Grand Slam Player Council to give players a voice in on-court and in-tournament issues. The Player Council will also provide recommendations to the US Open to guide how the new US Open Player Support Program will be deployed.   “The US Open has a long history of listening to players, and this player support program and Council builds on that commitment. We look forward to working directly with players to better understand the opportunities and challenges they face, and to continue finding meaningful ways to support them both on and off the court,” said Brian Vahaly, Chairman of the Board and President of the USTA.    More details on the programs will be forthcoming following further consultation with players.    Significant Increases Across All Rounds    Players throughout the tournament will see significant increases in payouts in 2026. A full table of prize money can be found at the bottom of this document. Highlights include:     Champions of Women’s and Men’s Singles will earn $5.5 million, the highest-ever  Champions prize for any tennis event Main Draw Singles first-round payout will increase 27 percent to $140,000, the highest in Grand Slam history Men’s and Women’s Qualifying first round payout will increase 16 percent to $32,000 Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed Doubles Champions to win $1,000,000 per team Prize Money Breakdown

The ATP/WTA Masters 1000 in Cincinnati Ohio has been especially successful for Americans this year, with four US women making the quarterfinals for the first time since 2004. Jessica Pegula defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4) this afternoon, with Coco Gauff and Madison Keys playing their quarterfinals Friday.

Tommy Paul lost today to Flavio Cobolli of Italy 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, but Brandon Nakashima and Taylor Fritz play each other in Friday's quarterfinals and Frances Tiafoe is scheduled to play Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.

UTR Pro Tennis Tour Update; Auburn's Moe and UNC's Mayew Win UTR Summer Slam National Championships; Baylor's Bowden and Virginia's Rolls Claim Titles and A-A Wild Cards at ITA Summer Championships

As is often the case during the busy summer season of junior tennis, I've fallen behind updating the UTR Pro Tennis Tour results, where many collegians spend the bulk of their off season competing. Juniors also use the events to help prepare for the USTA National Championships because so many are played on outdoor hard courts.

Men's results: (previous results from 2026 can be found here,  here, and here).

June 8 Newport Beach CA
Maciej Rajski d. Xavier Calvelo 6-3, 7-5

June 9 Boston MA*
Cornelius Shalmi d. Alberto Altur Fernandez 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5)

June 15 Boca Raton FL
Daniel Rakhmatullayev d. Sebastian Sec 6-2, 6-4

June 16 Seattle WA*
Nikola Plavsic d. Denny Bao 6-3, 4-6, 7-5

une 22 Newport Beach CA

Charlie Underwood d. JP Day 4-6, 0-1 ret.

June 23 Knoxville TN*

Jose Garcia d. Mitchell Sheldon 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(4)

June 23 Waco TX*

Cole Stelse d. Tomas Jirousek 6-4, 6-3

June 29 Boca Raton FL

Corey Craig d. Sebastian Sec 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4

June 30 Newport Beach CA*

Constantinos Djakouris d. Maciej Rajski 7-6(1), 6-4

July 7 Winston Salem NC*

Ian Mayew d. Andrew Delgado 6-2, 6-3

July 13 Newport Beach CA

Xavier Calvelo d. Douglas Yaffa 7-6(4), 1-6, 7-5

July 14 Knoxville TN*

Jose Garcia d. Cassius Chinlund 6-2, 6-7(7), 6-3

July 20 Newport Beach CA

Rishvanth Krishna d. Douglas Yaffa 6-3, 6-1

July 21 Tallahassee FL*

Filip Aplteur d. Jacob Lee 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

July 21 Waco TX*

Tomas Jirousek d. Radek Chodora 6-1, 6-4

July 28 Auburn AL*

Enzo Aguiard d. David Krasner 6-0, 6-3

July 28 Columbus OH*

Preston Stearns d. Simon Caldwell 6-1, 6-3

August 3 Newport Beach CA

Robert Yang d. David Duong 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-2

August 4 Auburn AL*

Enzo Aguiard d. Stewart Aronson 6-4, 6-4

Summer Slam Championships $25K prize money

August 11 Tallahassee FL

Ian Mayew d. Aleksa Ciric 6-2, 4-6, 6-1

*$12.5K prize money

Women's results:

June 8 Newport Beach CA

Alexia Harmon d. Anastasiia Grechkina 3-6, 6-1, 6-2

June 8 Boca Raton FL

Malwina Rowinska d. Brooklyn Olson 6-4, 7-5

June 9 Boston MA*

Mariana Manyoma d. Amina Salibayeva 7-5, 6-3

June 13 Rome GA

Alicia Herrero Linana d. Nadia Valdez 6-4, 6-2

June 16 Seattle WA*

Emma Dong d. Alexia Jacobs 6-1, 6-1

June 22 Newport Beach CA

Anastasiia Grechkina d. Alina Shcherbinina 6-1, 6-4

June 23 Knoxville TN*

Sydney Jara d. Reese Frank 6-4, 6-0

June 23 Waco TX*

Zuzanna Kubacha d. Ishika Ashar 6-3, 6-0

June 30 Newport Beach CA*

Nicole Weng d. Daniela Borruel 6-2, 6-2

July 7 Winston Salem NC*

Catherine Rennard d. Lexie Weir 6-0, 1-6, 6-3

July 13 Newport Beach CA

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Salma Ewing 6-3, 4-6, 6-1

July 14 Knoxville TN*

Riley Crowder d Catherine Rennard 7-5, 7-6(5)

July 20 Newport Beach CA

Daniela Borruel d. Shakhnoza Khatamova 7-5, 6-1

July 21 Tallahassee FL*

Sabritt Dozier d. Isabella Camacho 6-3, 6-3

July 21 Waco TX*

Zuzanna Kubacha d. Kira Matushkina 6-1, 6-2

July 28 Auburn AL*

Ava Esposito d. Lexie Weir 7-5, 6-3

July 28 Columbus OH*

Nao Nishino d. Ekaterina Ivanova 6-1, 6-2

August 3 Newport Beach CA

Veronika Miroshnichenko d. Shakhnoza Khatamova 6-1, 6-2

August 4 Auburn AL*

Ekaterina Khayrutdinova d. Ava Esposito 6-3, 7-5

August 4 Tallahassee FL

Summer Slam Championships $25K prize money

Kaya Moe d. Ava Esposito 6-4, 6-2

*$12.5 Prize Money

Ian Mayew, a rising sophomore at North Carolina, and Kaya Moe, a rising freshman at Auburn. won the $25,000 UTR Summer Slam Championships, which were played indoors at Florida State last week. 

The men's event page is here and the women's event page is here.

The ITA National Summer Championships are always during Kalamazoo, so I am not able to follow them; this year they were held in Waco Texas, with the Baylor men sweeping the titles. Rising senior Louis Bowden defeated Virginia's Stiles Brockett 6-1, 5-7, 10-7 in the final and partnered with rising freshman  August Brostrom Poulsen for the doubles title.

For more on the Baylor titles, see this article from baylorbears.com. 

In the women's tournament, Virginia's rising sophomore Katie Rolls won the title, defeated Alian Zack of Baylor 6-0, 7-5 in the final. Furman's Lillie Murphy and Elle Warren won the doubles title. 

Full draws are here.

For more on Rolls victory, see this article from virginiasports.com. 

The champions receive wild cards into the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships, in Tulsa Oklahoma(men) and Cary North Carolina(women) September 19-27. The finalists receive qualifying wild cards.

Zheng Among 2026 US Open Main Draw Wild Cards; Seven Teens Receive Qualifying Wild Cards, with Playoff Introduced for Final Qualifying Wild Card; Tennis Recruiting Network's Coverage of Last Week's USTA National Championships Begins

The US Open wild cards were announced today, a day earlier than they have been released the past two years, and both the men's and the women's main draw list features a "to be announced" entry.

Veterans Venus Williams, a two-time US Open women's singles champion, and Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open women's singles champion, are the only discretionary wild cards awarded; the other five were earned or reciprocal: Carol Lee(Georgia Tech), who won the annual Wild Card Challenge; Reese Brantmeier(North Carolina), who won the USTA Collegiate Playoff; Thea Frodin, the USTA National 18s champion, and Leolia Jeanjean(Baylor, Arkansas, Lynn), who received the French reciprocal wild card, and Taylah Preston, who received the Australian reciprocal wild card.

Four juniors who competed in the USTA 18s Nationals in San Diego received women's qualifying wild cards:

USTA National 18s finalist Janae Preston, 16, Annika Penickova, 16, Kristina Penickova 16, and Julieta Pareja, 17.

Two college stars, who have had outstanding summers, Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) and Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) received qualifying wild cards, with Katrina Scott(Tennessee) receiving her qualifying wild card as a finalist in the Collegiate Playoff. Caroline Dolehide also received a qualifying wild card.

The ninth qualifying wild card will be decided in a playoff on Sunday, August 23, with four players participating, and for the women, they are all teenagers: Melije Clarke, Welles Newman, Jordyn Hazelitt and Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann. I'm a little surprised not to see former UNC All-American Fiona Crawley in that field, with her WTA ranking of 266.

After qualifying for the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, two-time NCAA champion Michael Zheng(Columbia) will not have to qualify for his home slam, with the 22-year-old from New Jersey receiving one of the two discretionary wild cards. The other went to Martin Damm, who needs just two more withdrawals to move into the main draw, so there may be two wild cards yet to be announced.

JJ Wolf(Ohio State) won the annual Wild Card Challenge, Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) earned his wild card in June at the USTA's Collegiate playoff and Jack Kennedy was awarded a wild card as the National 18s champion in Kalamazoo.  The reciprocal wild cards are Gael Monfils of France and Alexei Popyrin of Australia.

Three participants in the 18s in Kalamazoo received qualifying wild cards: Jordan Lee, 16, who earned his as the 18s finalist; Michael Antonius, 16, and Andy Johnson, who turns 17 on Sunday. 

Two former and one active collegian received qualifying wild cards: Andre Ilagan(Hawaii), Daniel Milavsky(Harvard) and UCLA rising senior Spencer Johnson. 

Trevor Svajda(SMU) received his qualifying wild card as the finalist at the Collegiate playoff, and Japan's Kei Nishikori, who is retiring this year, received a qualifying wild card.

The participants in the men's qualifying playoff are Keaton Hance, 18, Jack Secord, 17, Ozan Baris(Michigan State) and Dali Blanch.

The Tennis Recruiting Network has begun its National Championship week articles with a review of the results of 12s in Mobile Alabama and Norcross Georgia.

My review of the Kalamazoo 16s will be up Thursday and the 18s article will be published Friday.

Links to all the articles can be found here.