Lauren Albanese Madison Brengle Mallory Burdette Louisa Chirico
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2013 USTA PRO CIRCUIT WOMEN’S BIOS Lauren Albanese Age: 23 (10/1/1989) Hometown: Coral Springs, FL Career-High Ranking: 158 (June 2009) Albanese reached at least one USTA Pro Circuit final each year from 2006-09 and advanced to two semifinals in an injury-shortened 2011. She won the USTA Girls’ 18s title in 2006 to earn a wild card into the US Open, where she advanced to the second round of the women’s singles main draw. Madison Brengle Age: 23 (4/3/1990) Hometown: Dover, Del. Career-High Ranking: 152 (April 2011) Brengle won her fourth career professional title in February 2013 at the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. In 2011, she ascended to a career-best ranking of No. 152 and won the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Hammond, La. In her career, Brengle has played in the main draw at three of the four Grand Slam events, winning USTA wild-card playoffs to earn entry into the Australian Open (2007-08) and the French Open (2008), as well as competing in the US Open main draw in 2007. An outstanding junior competitor, she rose to No. 4 in the world junior rankings in 2007 after reaching the girls’ singles final at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Mallory Burdette Age: 22 (1/28/1991) Hometown: Jackson, GA Career-High Ranking: 88 (April 2013) Burdette recently turned pro after reaching the third round of the US Open, losing to Maria Sharapova in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Burdette received a wild card into the 2012 US Open based on her USTA Pro Circuit results this summer, which included a title at the $100,000 event in Vancouver. She also reached the second round of the Emirates Airline US Open Series event in Stanford, Calif., in her WTA debut. This year, she broke into the Top 100 after reaching the semifinals of the $100,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Midland, Mich., and qualifying for and reaching the third round of the WTA events in Indian Wells, Calif., and Charleston, S.C. Burdette played for Stanford the last three years, clinching the NCAA team title as a freshman in 2010, winning the NCAA doubles crown in 2011 and 2012, and reaching the final of the 2012 NCAA singles (where she fell to teammate and doubles partner Nicole Gibbs). Louisa Chirico Age: 16 (6/16/1996) Hometown: Harrison, N.Y. Career-High Ranking: 424 (April 2013) Chirico, who, through March, joined Taylor Townsend as the only two American 16-year-olds ranked in the WTA Top 500. Along with Townsend, Chirico helped lead the U.S. to the Junior Fed Cup title in Barcelona, Spain, in 2012, before vaulting into the Top 70 of the world junior rankings in 2013. Chirico also qualified and reached the final of the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Surprise, Ariz., in February. She trains at the USTA Training Center – East at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Julia Cohen Age: 24 (3/23/1989) Hometown: Philadelphia Career-High Ranking: 97 (July 2012) Cohen broke into the WTA Top 100 in late July 2012, reaching a career-high No. 97 after advancing to her first WTA final, in Baku, Azerbaijan, prior to playing in her first US Open main draw in August. She is a veteran of all levels of competitive tennis, excelling as a junior and collegiate player and having competed in USTA adult events and on the USTA Pro Circuit. As a collegian, Cohen earned All-America honors as a sophomore for the University of Miami (Fla.) after being named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rookie of the Year as a freshman for the University of Florida. In 2008, she won three USTA adult national championships and added another in 2009, all in doubles events with her parents. Cohen peaked at No. 4 in the ITF World Junior Rankings in 2007, when she reached the Australian Open girls’ doubles final. Samantha Crawford Age: 18 (2/18/1995) Hometown: Atlanta Career-High Ranking: 240 (April 2013) Crawford qualified for the main draw of the 2012 US Open and pushed Great Britain’s Laura Robson, now a Top-50 player, in the first round. Crawford then won the US Open girls’ singles title, becoming the second consecutive American (after Min) to do so. At 6-foot-2, Crawford’s big serve and aggressive baseline game helped her rise to No. 5 in the world junior rankings in 2012. She also twice won the USTA Girls’ 18s doubles title. Crawford, whose mother is from China, speaks Chinese. She trains at the USTA National Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. Jill Craybas Age: 38 (7/4/1974) Hometown: Huntington Beach, Calif. Career-High Ranking: 39 (April 2006) Craybas finished in the Top 100 each year from 2001-10 and reached a career-high No. 39 in 2006. She competed in the main draw of all four Grand Slams each year from 2001-11, a streak of 44 straight Slam singles main draws. In 2012, she played in the qualifying of all four Grand Slam events and qualified for WTA events in Paris, Charleston, Madrid and Bastad. Her best Slam result came at Wimbledon in 2005, when she knocked off Serena Williams en route to the fourth round. Craybas won the 2002 Japan Open on the WTA Tour and has also won five tour-level doubles titles. She has represented the U.S. in the Olympics (2008 Beijing) and in Fed Cup (2004-06). She is the only woman to be a member of a national championship team with two different schools (Texas in 1993, Florida in 1996), and she won the NCAA singles championship in 1996. Lauren Davis Age: 19 (10/9/1993) Hometown: Boca Raton, Fla. Career-High Ranking: 63 (April 2013) Davis started 2013 by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open tune-up event in Hobart, losing to fellow young American Sloane Stephens in three sets. She then won the $100,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Midland, Mich., a few weeks later. Also, in 2013, she reached the quarterfinals of the WTA event in Monterrey, Mexico, and qualified and reached the second round in Miami. Davis broke into the Top 100 for the first time in her career in 2012. She qualified for and reached the second round of the French Open and advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA event in Quebec City, Canada, following the US Open. Davis also ended the 2012 season strong on the USTA Pro Circuit, winning the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Las Vegas. She reached the final of the $75,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Albuquerque the week prior to finish second among American women in WTA points earned on the USTA Pro Circuit in 2012. Davis peaked at No. 3 in the ITF World Junior Rankings in 2010, when she won the Orange Bowl and reached the final of the Easter Bowl. Victoria Duval Age: 17 (11/30/1995) Hometown: Bradenton, Fla. Career-High Ranking: 294 (April 2013) Duval earned a wild card into the main draw of the 2012 US Open by winning the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championships as the No. 17 seed, knocking off five Top-10 seeds en route. In the first round at the US Open, she faced former US Open champion Kim Clijsters, who was playing in her final Grand Slam event before retiring. Duval also reached the singles semifinals at the 2012 US Open Junior Championships. She formerly trained at the USTA Certified Regional Training Center in Atlanta, and members of the club helped save her father, a doctor in Port-au- Prince, who was injured in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Irina Falconi Age: 23 (5/4/1990) Hometown: Jupiter, Fla. Career-High Ranking: 73 (October 2011) A one-time college star at Georgia Tech, Falconi has played in every Grand Slam event at least twice. Her highlight at a major came at the US Open in 2011, when she upset No. 14 Dominika Cibulkova in the second round in Arthur Ashe Stadium and carried an American flag around the court following the win. Also in 2011, Falconi won a USTA playoff to earn a wild card into the French Open, where she advanced to the second round, and qualified for the Australian Open and Wimbledon to rise to No. 73 in the world rankings. In addition, she was selected to represent the U.S. in the 2011 Pan Am Games, where she won the gold medal in singles and the silver medal in doubles (with Christina McHale). In two seasons at Georgia Tech, Falconi was a two-time All-American and ranks first in school history in all-time winning percentage (.824; 70-15). Falconi was born in Ecuador and moved to New York at age 3, learning to play on public courts in Manhattan. Nicole Gibbs Age: 20 (3/3/1993) Hometown: Cincinnati Career-High Ranking: 185 (April 2013) Gibbs is the reigning NCAA Division I singles champion. Gibbs defeated Stanford teammate Mallory Burdette in the title match as a sophomore in 2012, for which she was awarded a wild card into the main draw of the US Open. (She also teamed with Burdette to win the NCAA doubles title.) Following the collegiate season, Gibbs qualified and won the USTA Pro Circuit event in Denver in July and received a wild card into the Emirates Airline US Open Series event in Stanford, where she fell to Serena Williams in the round of 16.