TOURNAMENT NOTES as of March 10, 2016 ORLANDO WOMEN’S $10,000 TOURNAMENT ORLANDO, FL • MARCH 13-20 USTA PRO CIRCUIT WOMEN’S TENNIS RETURNS TO ORLANDO TOURNAMENT INFORMATION The Orlando Women’s $10,000 Tournament returns to Orlando for the fourth consecutive Site: Orlando Tennis Centre year. The city also hosted a USTA Pro Orlando, Fla. Circuit women’s event in 1992. This is the second of three consecutive USTA Pro Staples USTA/Peter Website: www.orlandotenniscentre.com Circuit clay-court women’s events held in procircuit.usta.com Florida in March, following Weston and preceding Naples. Qualifying Draw Begins: Sunday, March 13 To follow the tournament, download the USTA Tuesday, March 15 Main Draw Begins: Pro Circuit’s new phone app for smartphones and tablets by searching “procircuit” in the 32 Singles / 16 Doubles Main Draw: Apple and Google Play stores. Surface: Clay / Outdoor Notable players competing in Orlando include: Prize Money: $10,000 2014 Orlando singles champion Katerina Stewart, who made her Australian Open Tournament Director: qualifying debut in January. Stewart had a Tom Sweitzer, (717) 421-2209 strong season on the USTA Pro Circuit in [email protected] 2015, winning three singles titles and going 13-2 in the spring in a string of $50,000 Tournament Press Contact: clay-court events, winning in Indian Harbour 2014 Orlando singles champion Katerina Charlie Williams, (321) 276-3967 Beach, Fla., and reaching the final in Stewart had a strong season on the USTA Pro [email protected] Charlottesville, Va., and Savannah, Ga. Circuit in 2015, winning three singles titles. Stewart peaked at a career-high No. 158 USTA Communications Contact: in the world in July. In 2014, she won Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219 the USTA Girls’ 18s National Clay Court Bethany Beach, Del.; and Charlotte, [email protected] Championships, capping a 34-match N.C.). Stewart was awarded a wild card winning streak in junior and pro matches into qualifying at the 2014 US Open and won her first-round qualifying match over PRIZE MONEY / POINTS during which she won three USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 clay-court events (Orlando; Yuliya Beygelizimer, a former Top 100 SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points player. Stewart also played in the doubles Winner $1,568 12 main draw at the 2014 US Open with Runner-Up $980 7 Louisa Chirico, falling in the first round. An Semifinalist $490 4 USTA accomplished player on all surfaces, Stewart Quarterfinalist $245 2 also was the USTA Girls’ 16s national hard Round 16 $196 1 court champion in 2013. Her mother, Round 32 $98 0 Marina, was an Argentine WTA pro. She is coached by her father, Cesar. DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) Winner $637 Sanaz Marand, who played collegiately for Runner-Up $343 the University of North Carolina, where she Semifinalist $196 received All-America honors and, in 2010, Quarterfinalist $98 helped lead the Tar Heels to their first NCAA Round 16 $49 team semifinals. In 2013, Marand won her Sanaz Marand has won 10 USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles in her career. She played collegiately for the University of North Carolina, where she received All-America honors and, in 2010, helped lead the Tar Heels to their first NCAA team semifinals. *Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES first USTA Pro Circuit singles title at the $25,000 event in El Paso, Island, Fla. Her twin brother, Charlie, played baseball at N.C. State. Texas. She has also won 10 career USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles, including three tournaments in 2015. As a junior player, Marand Notable players competing in qualifying include: reached the doubles final at the 2006 Easter Bowl with fellow American Ashley Weinhold. Grace Min, the former US Open junior champion who peaked at a career-high No. 97 in the world in March 2015 after reaching Ellie Halbauer, 18, who won her first-ever USTA Pro Circuit singles the second round of the WTA’s Rio Open and competing in Indian title at the $10,000 event in Hilton Head Island, S.C., in 2013. Wells. In 2014, Min reached the semifinals of the WTA event in She also received a qualifying-draw wild card into the WTA’s Family Bad Gastein, Austria—her first-ever WTA semifinal—and competed Circle Cup in her hometown of Charleston, S.C., in 2014. This in the US Open and French Open main draws, qualifying at Roland year, Halbauer reached the semifinals of the $25,000 USTA Pro Garros. She was one of the top juniors in the world in 2011, when Circuit event in Sunrise, Fla., and qualified for the $25,000 event she won the US Open girls’ singles title and the Wimbledon girls’ in Daytona Beach, Fla. She trains at the USTA Player Development doubles title. Those results helped propel her to No. 4 in the world Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. junior rankings. In 2013, she qualified for the French Open—her first main-draw Grand Slam appearance outside the U.S.—as well as Lauren Herring, who graduated from the University of Georgia in the US Open. She holds six USTA Pro Circuit singles titles overall, 2015, earning three All-America honors in singles and two in doubles including the $25,000 event in Florence, S.C., in October 2015. during her collegiate career. Herring ranks second all-time in Georgia Earlier this year, Min advanced to the semifinals of the $25,000 history with 238 combined singles and doubles wins and is second USTA Pro Circuit event in Daytona Beach, Fla. in overall doubles victories with 118. She went 21-7 in singles as a senior to lead the Bulldogs to the NCAA Final Four and competed Alexandra Mueller, who holds 14 career USTA Pro Circuit doubles in the 2015 American Collegiate Invitational at the US Open, a titles and four USTA Pro Circuit singles titles. In July 2013, Mueller tournament to showcase college tennis at the US Open. As a junior qualified in singles for the WTA event in Washington, D.C., where player, Herring competed in doubles at the 2010 US Open after she also reached the doubles quarterfinals. Mueller is a two-time winning the USTA Girls’ 18s national title with Grace Min. Herring winner of the US Open National Playoffs, earning wild cards into the holds two USTA Pro Circuit singles titles—one in 2015 at the US Open Qualifying Tournament in 2010 and 2012. This is her first $10,000 event in Evansville, Ind., and another in 2010 in Amelia USTA Pro Circuit tournament of the year. *Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES USTA PRO CIRCUIT YOUTH TENNIS With approximately 90 tournaments hosted annually throughout the country and prize money ranging The USTA is making it easier and more fun for kids to get into from $10,000 to $100,000, the USTA Pro Circuit is the pathway to the US Open and tour-level competition the game—and stay in the game. Kids are learning to play for aspiring tennis players and a frequent battleground for established professionals. The USTA launched faster than ever before through the USTA’s youth initiative, its Pro Circuit in 1979 to provide players with the opportunity to gain professional ranking points, and it has since grown to become the largest developmental tennis circuit in the world, offering nearly which is geared toward getting more kids to participate in $3 million in prize money. Last year, more than 1,000 men and women from more than 70 countries tennis using modified equipment and courts tailored to a competed in cities nationwide. John Isner, Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, Caroline Woznaicki, Kei child’s size. For more information, visit YouthTennis.com. Nishikori, Victoria Azarenka and Sam Querrey are among today’s top stars who began their careers on the USTA Pro Circuit. USTA FOUNDATION More recently, the USTA Pro Circuit was a pathway to success for two young USTA Foundation, the national charitable organization of Americans in 2015—Samantha Crawford the USTA, helps serve up dreams for under-resourced youth; and Frances Tiafoe. Crawford, the 2012 US individuals with disabilities; and wounded, ill and injured Open girls’ singles champion, started the service members, veterans and their families. The foundation 2015 season ranked No. 293 and competed Photography Vomund supports programs nationwide that leverage tennis and in 23 USTA Pro Circuit events throughout education to help those in need, primarily through the National the year. She went on to win the first USTA Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network, and other efforts Pro Circuit singles title of her career at the to assist military personnel, veterans and individuals with $50,000 event in Scottsdale, Ariz., and also disabilities. To date, it has awarded more than $19 million in won two of the USTA Pro Circuit’s wild card grants and scholarships to hundreds of programs, benefitting challenges to earn wild cards into the 2015 thousands of children and adults through a tennis, education US Open and 2016 Australian Open; the wild and health curricula. For more information, visit the website card challenges were based upon results on www.ustafoundation.com. the USTA Pro Circuit. Crawford’s hard work paid off, and in January 2016, she rose to No. 107 in the world after a strong start to the year in Australia, where she reached her Samantha Crawford US OPEN NATIONAL PLAYOFFS first WTA semifinal in Brisbane as a qualifier. The USTA launched the Tiafoe, a former world No. 2 junior who turned pro early in 2015, started last season US Open National Playoffs in ranked No. 1,143.