US Open Men's and Women's Wild Cards Announced

The USTA released the names of those receiving main draw and qualifying draw wild cards to the US Open, which begins August 29th. The US Open articles on the wild cards are available by clicking on the headings below.

The women's main draw wild cards:
Danielle Collins
Kayla Day
Lauren Davis
Sonya Kenin
Vania King
Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Virginie Razzano(French reciprocal wild card)
Australian reciprocal wild card (playoff in progress now)

The men's main draw wild cards:
Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina
Ernesto Escobedo
Bjorn Fratangelo
Mackenzie McDonald
Michael Mmoh
Rajeev Ram
Frances Tiafoe
Australian reciprocal wild card
(France not using their reciprocal wild card this year)

Perhaps the biggest surprise to me in this group, aside from France declining their wild card, is the absence of Jared Donaldson.  Although he did receive a wild card into this week's ATP Masters in Cincinnati and has been given a US Open main draw wild card the past two years, he has qualified for three ATP events this summer, going 5-4 in the main draw since losing in the first round in Newport early last month. The 19-year-old, who plays Stan Wawrinka tonight in Cincinnati, is currently 122 in the ATP rankings and already had a place in qualifying, as did Escobedo, Fratangelo, Ram and Tiafoe.

The women's qualifying wild cards:
Amanda Anisimova
Francesca Di Lorenzo
Nicole Frenkel
Ellie Halbauer
Raveena Kingsley
Jamie Loeb
Melanie Oudin
Laura Robson (Great Britain)

The men's qualifying wild cards:
Sekou Bangoura
Christian Harrison
Vasil Kirkov
Mitchell Krueger
Thai Kwiatkowski
Reilly Opelka
Tennys Sandgren
Ryan Shane

Harrison, who won the $25,000 Champaign Futures title on Sunday, his first title since 2013, spoke to Jonathan Kelley of On The Rise about the injuries that have kept him from competing for most of the past two years.  Kelley also talked with Champaign finalist Rhyne Williams about his return to competition after struggling with back problems for the past two years.  I also neglected to mention in my Monday recap that Jared Hiltzik(Illinois) and Dominik Koepfer(Tulane) won the Champaign doubles title, beating No. 4 seeds Tim Kopinski(Illinois) and Alex Lawson(Notre Dame) 3-6, 6-3, 11-9 in the final.

Mackenzie McDonald and Robin Anderson, who won the American Collegiate Invitational at last year's US Open, were guaranteed qualifying wild cards, but Anderson is into qualifying on her own ranking and McDonald, of course, won the NCAAs and received a main draw wild card.  It's great to see, with so many worthy candidates for main draw wild cards, that the USTA has reaffirmed its commitment to college tennis by giving the traditional, but not guaranteed, wild cards to American NCAA champions.

One more qualifying wild card for both men and women will be awarded to the winner of the US Open National Playoffs, which start this weekend in New Haven.  The draws are not yet up, but as a reminder, below are those who won sectional qualifying and are expected to compete.  Ena Shibahara and Jada Hart, who won the USTA 18s National title Sunday, are unlikely to play since they have already have earned a main draw wild card.

Southwest
Men’s Singles: Tyler Hochwalt
Women’s Singles: Jacqueline Cako
Men’s Doubles: Joel Kielbowicz & Matt Seeberger
Women’s Doubles: Priscilla Annoual & Savannah Slaysman
Mixed Doubles: Jacqueline Cako & Joel Kielbowicz

Missouri Valley
Men’s Singles: Eric Quigley
Women’s Singles: Sanaz Marand
Men’s Doubles: James Cerretani & Max Schnur
Women’s Doubles: Gabriela Porubin & Julia Schiller
Mixed Doubles: Eric Quigley & Keri Wong

Intermountain
Men’s Singles: Patrick Kawka
Women’s Singles: Ena Shibahara
Men’s Doubles: Patrick Kawka & Trevor Johnson
Women’s Doubles: Katarina Facey & Alexandra Facey
No Mixed Doubles competition

Florida
Men’s Singles: Terrance Whitehurst
Women’s Singles: Ashley Weinhold
Men’s Doubles: Philip Bester & Peter Polansky
Women’s Doubles: Ashley Weinhold & Caitlin Whoriskey
Mixed Doubles: Hunter Reese & Caitlin Whoriskey

Eastern
Men’s Singles: Shawn Hadavi
Women’s Singles: Julia Elbaba
Men’s Doubles: Vaidik Munshaw & Gustavo Loza
Women’s Doubles: Dasha Kourkina & Michelle Sorokko
Mixed Doubles: Alona Bondarenko & Mykola Dyachok

Southern California 
Men’s Singles: Henry Craig
Women’s Singles: Brynn Boren
Men’s Doubles: Ryan Brown & Joseph Rotheram
Women’s Doubles: Jacqueline Cako & Danielle Lao
Mixed Doubles: Jordan Gobatie & Katsiaryna Zheltova

New England
Men’s Singles: Cameron Silverman
Women’s Singles: Margaryta Bilokin
Men’s Doubles: Joel Rubio Moreno & Benjamin Collier
Women’s Doubles: Veronica Corning & Meghan Kelley
Mixed Doubles: Ellyse Hamlin & Hleb Maslau

Midwest
Men’s Singles: Martin Joyce
Women’s Singles: Sara Daavettila
Men’s Doubles: Tyler Barr & Austin Barr
Women’s Doubles: Tracy Kuhle & Danielle Wolf
Mixed Doubles: Caroline Hammond Varga & Christopher Varga

Mid-Atlantic
Men’s Singles: Hunter Koontz
Women’s Singles: Nika Kukharchuk
Men’s Doubles: Junior Ore & Hunter Reese
Women’s Doubles: Anastasia Revzina & Alexis Merrill
Mixed Doubles: Lauren Bellinger & Eric West

Hawaii
Men’s Singles: Jesse Witten
Women’s Singles: Eva Raszkiewicz
Men’s Doubles: Rong Ma & Wei Yu Su
Women’s Doubles: Sara Tsukamoto & Diana Wong
Mixed Doubles: Katreina Corpuz & Ikaika Jobe

Middle States
Men’s Singles: Jose Statham
Women’s Singles: Sophie Chang
Men’s Doubles: Andrei Daescu & Costin Paval
Women’s Doubles: Nika Kukharchuk & Alexandra Perper
Mixed Doubles: Andrei Daescu & Anda Perianu

Southern
Men’s Singles: Philip Major
Women’s Singles: Elyse Lavender
Men’s Doubles: Andrew Goodwin & Vikram Hundal
Women’s Doubles: Aryn Greene & Ansley Speaks
Mixed Doubles: Alexandra Anghelescu & Danie van den Heever

Texas
Men’s Singles  Eric Rutledge
Women’s Singles: Fernanda Contreras Gomez
Men’s Doubles: Hunter Johnson & Yates Johnson
Women’s Doubles: Kseniya Bardabush & Aleksandra Malyarchikova
Mixed Doubles: Zach Nichols & Millie Nichols

Northern
Men’s Singles: Nick Meister
Women’s Singles: Kelsey Laurente
Men’s Doubles: Nick Meister & Eric Quigley
Women’s Doubles: Alexis Nelson & Anna Sanford
Mixed Doubles: Emina Bektas & Evan King

Northern California
Men’s Singles: Logan Staggs
Women’s Singles: Sara Choy
Men’s Doubles: Dann Battistone & Brian Battistone
Women’s Doubles: Jada Hart & Ena Shibahara
Mixed Doubles: Kaitlyn Christian & Rudolf Siwy