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Home , 2007 Australian Open, 2007 US Open (tennis), 2013 US Open (tennis), 2014 French Open, 2014 US Open (tennis), Alexandra Mueller

TOURNAMENT NOTES

as of October 6, 2015

ROCK HILL ROCKS OPEN ROCK HILL, SC • OCTOBER 11-18

USTA PRO CIRCUIT WOMEN’S RETURNS TO ROCK HILL TOURNAMENT INFO The Rock Hill Rocks Open returns to the Site: Rock Hill Tennis Center – Rock Hill, S.C.  USTA Pro Circuit for the seventh straight USTA Websites: procircuit.usta.com year. It is the second to last $25,000 USTA www.cityofrockhill.com Pro Circuit women’s tournament for 2015 and precedes another USTA Pro Circuit Facebook: Rock Hill Rocks Open event in South Carolina, in Florence, which will take place next week. Tournaments in Qualifying Draw Begins: Sunday, October 11 Charleston and Hilton Island were held Main Draw Begins: Tuesday, October 13 over the past two weeks. Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles To follow the tournament, download the Surface: Hard / Outdoor USTA Pro Circuit’s new phone app by searching “procircuit” in the app store. Prize Money: $25,000 Tournament Director: Notable players competing in the main draw Kim Ozmon, (803) 325-4022 include: [email protected] , the top American in Rock Tournament Press Contact: Hill, who peaked at No. 108 in the world Tim Hartis, (803) 230-1967 this July after qualifying for Wimbledon and [email protected] reaching the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon USTA Communications Contact: tune-up event in Nottingham, England. Sachia Vickery, the top American in Rock Hill, Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219 Also this summer, Vickery represented the peaked at No. 108 in the world this July. Also this year, Vickery represented the U.S. in the [email protected] United States in the Pan American Games in , and earlier this year she won the Pan American Games and won the first two USTA Pro Circuit singles titles of her career. PRIZE MONEY / POINTS first two USTA Pro Circuit singles titles of SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points her career, at the $25,000 Florida events in Plantation and Sunrise. In her young career, Winner $3,919 50 and Wimbledon in 2014, and she reached Vickery has competed in the US Open and Runner-up $2,091 30 the quarterfinals at the Emirates Airline the main draws, receiving a Semifinalist $1,114 18 US Open Series event in Stanford, Calif., main draw wild card into the 2015 US Open Quarterfinalist $ 654 9 last summer—her first WTA quarterfinal. and earning one into the 2014 Australian Round of 16 $ 392 5 In 2013, Vickery won the USTA Girls’ 18s Open by winning the USTA’s Australian Round of 32 $ 228 1 national singles and doubles titles, earning Open Wild Card Playoff. She also competed wild cards into the main draws of the singles DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) in qualifying for the US Open, Winner $1,437 and doubles events at the 2013 US Open. Runner-up $ 719 At the Open, she won her first-round match in her debut, defeating Mirjana Semifinalist $ 359 USTA Quarterfinalist $ 196 Lucic-Baroni in straight sets. As a junior Round of 16 $ 131 player, Vickery ascended to No. 6 in the ITF World Junior Rankings, reaching the COMMUNITY EVENTS doubles semifinals of junior Wimbledon Sunday, October 11 in 2012 and competing in all four junior Rockin’ Junior Kickoff, 5:30-7:00 p.m. Grand Slam tournaments. She trains with coach Adrian Zeman at the ZMG Tennis Monday, October 12 at Deer Creek facility in Deerfield Beach, Adult Pro-Am, 6:30-8:00 p.m. Fla., and was a longtime trainee of the

Tuesday, October 13 Wheelchair Exhibition, noon-1:00 p.m. turned pro after completing her sophomore year at UCLA this past spring, having helped the Bruins to the NCAA team final in both of her seasons, including the championship in 2014.

*Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES

USTA Player Development program at the USTA Training Center , who has played in just a few USTA Pro Circuit Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. tournaments since October 2014 after undergoing a heart procedure. Most recently, she reached the quarterfinals of the Jennifer Brady, who recently completed her sophomore year at $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Stockton, Calif., in July, and UCLA and has since turned pro. This past season, Brady was advanced to the final round of qualifying for the 2015 US Open. part of the UCLA team that reached the final of the NCAA Team Oudin burst onto the tennis scene in 2009, defeating former world Championships. During her freshman season (2013-14), she was a No. 1 Jelena Jankovic to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon and member of the 2014 NCAA championship-winning team. Also last beating then-three-time Grand Slam tournament champion Maria year, Brady won her first USTA Pro Circuit singles title, taking the Sharapova en route to the US Open quarterfinals. Oudin peaked at crown at the $25,000 event in Redding, Calif., where she also won No. 31 in the world in singles in April 2010, but she struggled with the doubles title. Brady reached the quarterfinals of the $50,000 injuries and inconsistency in the year that followed. She started a USTA Pro Circuit event in Las Vegas this month and owns three comeback in 2012, capturing the first WTA title of her career at USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles. the Wimbledon tune-up event in Birmingham, England. She then competed at Wimbledon as a wild card. Oudin also earned a wild 2011 Rock Hill singles champion of , card into the based on her results on the USTA who is the top-ranked player in Rock Hill and peaked at No. 32 in Pro Circuit, which included a title at the event in Charlottesville, the world in 2013. Oprandi has competed in all four Grand Slam Va. (She reached the second round at Roland Garros that year.) In tournaments, reaching the third round of the addition to her success in singles, Oudin notched one of the biggest for her best Grand Slam result. She has won 25 ITF Pro Circuit victories of her career at the 2011 US Open, claiming the mixed singles titles and 11 doubles titles, as well as one WTA doubles doubles title with fellow American . She has also been a title at Marrakech, Morocco, in 2014, where she also reached the consistent performer for the U.S. Fed Cup team. Oudin announced singles final. Oprandi has represented Switzerland in Fed Cup. She in November 2013 that she was suffering from rhabdomyolysis, is on the comeback trail after having a fifth shoulder surgery at a muscle-damaging condition, and took time off to recover. She the end of this February, putting her out of competition for three resumed competition in March 2014 and competed on the USTA months. Pro Circuit and in qualifying for the US Open, French Open and Wimbledon. She was then sidelined again by the heart procedure. Israel’s Shahar Peer, who peaked at No. 11 in the world in singles in 2011 and at No. 14 in doubles in 2008. Peer reached Reigning USTA Girls’ 18s national champion , 16, the singles quarterfinals of the , losing to who made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the US Open this , and the 2007 US Open, where she lost to Anna summer and also reached the 2015 US Open junior singles final. Chakvetadze. Peer advanced to the doubles final at the 2008 Kenin earned a wild card berth into the US Open women’s singles Australian Open with former world No. 1 and has draw by virtue of her USTA Girls’ 18s national title and fell to reached five Grand Slam tournament doubles quarterfinals overall. Mariana Duque-Marino in the first round. Kenin, who goes by She has won five WTA singles titles and three WTA doubles titles “Sonya,” is the No. 3-ranked junior in the world and represented and competed on the Israeli Olympic Team and Fed Cup Team. the United States at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in China.

Notable players competing in qualifying include: Alexandra Stevenson, 34, who drew international attention in 1999 by becoming the first female qualifier in Wimbledon history to reach , who was a top storyline at the , the event’s semifinals. She was ranked in the year-end Top 100 where she made her Grand Slam main draw debut and advanced each year from 1999 to 2003, peaking at No. 18 in 2002. Injuries to the third round. She competed in the French Open as a wild drove her ranking into the 600s in 2005, but Stevenson rebounded card after winning the 2014 Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card to climb back into the Top 200 in 2009, advancing to the final at Challenge, taking the challenge on the strength of victories at two the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Carson, Calif., for her best $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit events: Charlottesville, Va., result on the USTA Pro Circuit since 1998. She is the daughter of and Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. Those were the first two USTA Pro basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving. Circuit titles of her career. Townsend went on to compete in the other three Grand Slam tournaments following last year’s French , who won a career-high five doubles titles on the Open. This year, she made her Fed Cup debut in the World Group USTA Pro Circuit in 2013 and owns 14 USTA Pro Circuit doubles II First Round in Argentina, where she played doubles. Townsend titles overall, including one title this year, in Sumter, S.C. She also is a former junior standout, clinching the year-end ITF No. 1 junior has won four career USTA Pro Circuit singles titles. In July 2013, ranking in 2012 to become the first American girl to hold that Mueller qualified in singles for the WTA event in Washington, D.C., position since Gretchen Rush in 1982. Townsend ascended to No. where she also reached the doubles quarterfinals. Mueller is a two- 1 by winning the Australian Open junior singles and doubles titles, time winner of the US Open National Playoffs, earning wild cards as well as the junior doubles titles at the US Open and Wimbledon. into the US Open Qualifying Tournament in 2010 and 2012. Also in 2012, she led the United States to the Junior Fed Cup championship. Townsend turned pro at the start of 2013 and, in her Caroline Price, who recently completed her senior year at the first WTA-level main draw match, beat then-No. 57 Lucie Hradecka University of North Carolina, where she earned All-America honors in the first round of Indian Wells. After playing primarily pro events and won 128 singles matches—the second most in Tar Heels early that year, she returned to the junior ranks in 2013 and history. Price won her first USTA Pro Circuit singles title this year at reached the girls’ singles final at Wimbledon. the $10,000 event in Charlotte, N.C. She is the daughter of former *Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES

NBA All-Star Mark Price, the former Charlotte Hornets assistant senior to lead Georgia to the NCAA Final Four and competed in this coach who is now men’s head basketball coach at UNC-Charlotte. year’s American Collegiate Invitational at the US Open, a tournament to showcase college tennis at the US Open. As a junior player, , who graduated from the University of Georgia this Herring competed in doubles at the 2010 US Open after winning year, earning three All-America honors in singles and two in doubles the USTA Girls’ 18s national title with . Herring owns two in her collegiate career. Herring ranks second all-time at Georgia USTA Pro Circuit singles titles—one from this year at the $10,000 with 238 combined singles and doubles wins and is second in event in Evansville, Ind., and another coming in 2010 at Amelia overall doubles victories with 118. She went 21-7 in singles as a Island, Fla. Her twin brother, Charlie, played baseball at N.C. State.

*Player field subject to change

ROCK HILL PAST WINNERS Singles Doubles Year Winner Runner-Up Year Winner 2014 CiCi Bellis (USA) (USA) 2014 (NED) – (CAN) 2013 Mariana Duque-Marino (COL) (GEO) 2013 Mariana Duque-Marino (COL) – Maria Irigoyen (ARG) 2012 (CAN) Sharon Fichman (CAN) 2012 (USA) – (USA) 2011 Romina Oprandi (ITA) Grace Min (USA) 2011 Maria Abramovic (CRO) – Roxane Vaisemberg (BRA) 2010 (ITA) (USA) 2010 Maria-Fernanda Alves (BRA) – Mariana Duque-Marino (COL) 2009 Sacha Jones (NZL) Ani Mijacika (CRO) 2009 Sharon Fichman (CAN) – Anna Tatishvili (GEO) 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 for aspiring tennis players and a frequent battleground for established professionals. The USTA launched the game—and stay in the game. Kids are learning to play its Pro Circuit in 1979 to provide players with the opportunity to gain professional ranking points, and faster than ever before through the USTA’s youth initiative, 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 competed in cities nationwide. Victoria Azarenka, , , , Kei tennis using modified equipment and courts tailored to a child’s Nishikori, , and are among today’s top stars who size. For more information, visit YouthTennis.com. began their careers on the USTA Pro Circuit.

More recently, the USTA Pro Circuit helped further the careers of two young NJTL Americans— and . In her first full season as a Founded in 1969 by Arthur Ashe, along with Charlie Pasarell professional after capturing back-to-back and Sheridan Snyder, the USTA/National Junior Tennis & NCAA singles championships in 2012 and Learning (NJTL) network is a nationwide group of more than

2013, Gibbs won the women’s USTA Pro A. Clary/Getty Images Timothy Circuit US Open Wild Card Challenge in 625 non-profit youth development organizations that provide 2014. After claiming the title at the $50,000 free or low-cost tennis, education and life skills programming USTA Pro Circuit event in Carson, Calif., to more than 350,000 children each year. Celebrating its Gibbs clinched the US Open wild card 45th anniversary this year, NJTL is one of the USTA’s largest by advancing to the final of the $50,000 community-based offerings. tournament in Lexington, Ky., her last USTA Pro Circuit event of the season. Gibbs went on to reach the third round at the US Open, scoring a pair of Top 50 victories along the US OPEN NATIONAL PLAYOFFS way. Two weeks after the US Open, as a qualifier at Seoul, she reached her first WTA Nicole Gibbs The USTA launched the US Open quarterfinal, which boosted her into the National Playoffs in 2010, WTA Top 100 for the first time. Gibbs earned making the US Open “open” the second-most WTA ranking points of any to anyone age 14+ and of all American playing the USTA Pro Circuit in 2014. Kozlov, runner-up in 2014 at the junior championships of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, reached the final of the Sacramento Challenger last October at age skill levels. Last year, more 16, becoming the youngest American to reach a Challenger final since in 1986. That result than 1,200 players competed vaulted Kozlov to No. 443 in the world, making him the youngest player in the ATP World Tour Top 500. He in 13 Sectional Qualifying concluded 2014 by sweeping the singles and doubles titles at the prestigious Junior Tennis Tournaments nationwide for Championships, locking down a No. 3 junior world ranking. a 2014 US Open Qualifying Tournament wild card. A mixed doubles element also was PLAYER DEVELOPMENT held, with the winning team earning a main draw mixed doubles wild card. This year, players again competed in The USTA Player Development program identifies and develops the next generation of American champions singles and mixed doubles, but also had the chance to play by surrounding the top junior players and young pros with the resources, facilities and coaching they need in the new men’s and women’s doubles competition to earn to reach their maximum potential. The Player Development program is based at the USTA Training Center main draw doubles wild cards. The US Open National Playoffs Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., and also utilizes Training Centers in Carson, Calif., and Flushing, N.Y., as Championships were Aug. 21-29. For more information and the well as a series of Certified Regional Training Centers located throughout the continental United States. complete schedule, visit www.usopen.org/NationalPlayoffs.