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TOURNAMENT NOTES

as of January 21, 2016

THE SPORTMASTER CHAMPIONSHIPS OF MAUI MAUI, HI • JANUARY 24-31

USTA PRO CIRCUIT WOMEN’S TENNIS COMES TO MAUI TOURNAMENT INFORMATION The SportMaster Tennis Championships of Maui comes to Maui for the first time as part Site: The Royal Lahaina Resort of a dual event; Maui is also hosting a men’s Maui, Hawaii $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit Challenger this Getty Images week. This is the first $50,000 USTA Pro Websites: www.tennischampionshipsofmaui.com Circuit women’s event of the 2016 season. procircuit.usta.com

Facebook: USTA Hawaii Pacific Section This tournament will be streamed live on www.procircuit.usta.com. To follow Twitter: @TCofM the tournament, download the USTA Pro Qualifying Draw Begins: Sunday, Jan. 24 Circuit’s new phone app for smartphones and tablets by searching “procircuit” in the Main Draw Begins: Tuesday, Jan. 26 Apple and Google Play stores. Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles Notable players competing in Maui include: Surface: Hard / Outdoor Prize Money: $50,000 , who competed in this year’s for the first time after Tournament Director: winning the USTA Pro Circuit Australian Ron Romano, (808) 277-0089 Open Challenge in the fall of [email protected] 2015. She is currently ranked a career-high Tournament Press Contact: No. 107 in the world after a strong start to Ryan Trujillo, (808) 203-9799 2016 in , which included reaching her first WTA semifinal, as a qualifier in [email protected] Samantha Crawford competed in this year’s . At the end of 2015, Crawford won Australian Open for the first time after winning USTA Communications Contact: her first career USTA Pro Circuit singles title the USTA Pro Circuit Australian Open Wild Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219 at the $50,000 event in Scottsdale, Ariz. Card Challenge in the fall. She is ranked a career-high No. 107 in the world. [email protected] Crawford also won the USTA Pro Circuit’s US Open Wild Card Challenge in 2015, PRIZE MONEY / POINTS securing a spot in the US Open main draw for the second time in her career. In 2012, SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points Crawford won the US Open girls’ singles title Winner $7,600 80 and qualified for the women’s singles main

Runner-Up $4,053 48 USTA draw as a qualifying wild card. She has also Semifinalist $2,216 29 competed in the US Open women’s doubles Quarterfinalist $1,267 15 draw three times (2011-12, 2014). At Round 16 $760 8 6-foot-2, Crawford’s big and aggressive Round 32 $444 1 baseline game helped her rise to No. 5 in DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) the ITF World Junior Rankings in 2012. Winner $2,786 Runner-Up $1,393 , who peaked at a career-high Semifinalist $696 No. 108 in the world in July 2015 after Quarterfinalist $380 qualifying for Wimbledon. She also received Round 16 $254 a wild card into the 2015 US Open. Also in 2015, Vickery advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA’s Wimbledon tune-up event in Nottingham, Great Britain, and won

Sachia Vickery peaked at a career-high No. 108 in the world in July 2015 after qualifying for Wimbledon. She also received a wild card into the 2015 US Open.

*Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES the first two career USTA Pro Circuit singles titles of her career singles final at Wimbledon. at the $25,000 Florida events in Plantation and Sunrise. Vickery has competed in the US Open, Wimbledon, and the Australian Nicole Vaidisova, the former world No. 7 who retired from pro Open main draws in her young career. She earned a main-draw tennis in 2010 before launching her comeback on the USTA Pro wild card into the by winning the USTA’s Circuit in fall 2014. In just her second tournament back, Vaidisova Australian Open Wild Card Playoff. That same year, she reached reached the quarterfinals of the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in the quarterfinals at the Emirates Airline US Open Series event in Las Vegas. She followed that up by reaching the semifinals at the Stanford, Calif.—her first WTA quarterfinal. In 2013, Vickery won $100,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Midland, Mich., in 2015, and the USTA National Girls’ 18s singles and doubles titles, earning last summer she reached the quarters at two ITF Pro Circuit events wild cards into the main draws of the singles and doubles events at in Europe. For her career, Vaidisova has won six WTA singles titles the 2013 US Open. At the Open, she won her first-round match in and reached the semifinals of the and the her debut, defeating Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in straight 2006 , upsetting No. 1 seed Amelie Mauresmo in the sets. As a junior, Vickery ascended to No. 6 in the ITF World Junior fourth round and in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. Rankings. She is coached by USTA National Coaches Vaidisova has also represented the Czech Republic in Fed Cup. and Anibal Aranda. , who played in just one tournament in 2014 after Tournament wild card Christina McHale, whose breakout season having knee surgery, but is on the comeback trail after qualifying came in 2012, when she became the youngest member of the U.S. for the 2015 US Open and winning her first-round match in her Olympic tennis team (four days younger than fellow 20-year-old Ryan first-ever Grand Slam main draw. Also in 2015, Pegula qualified for Harrison) and reached the third round of three Grand Slam events the WTA event in Charleston, S.C., and reached the quarterfinals that year. In turn, she peaked at No. 24 in the world. In 2011, at two $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit events, in Dothan, Ala., and McHale established herself as the second-highest ranked American Kirkland, Wash. Ala. She also reached the final round of qualifying behind and became the youngest player in the at Wimbledon and the French Open in 2015. Pegula achieved a WTA Top 50 after defeating world No. 9 en route to career breakthrough in 2013 by qualifying for and reaching the third the third round of the US Open. She also won the bronze medal round of the WTA event in Charleston. She also qualified for the WTA in singles and the silver in doubles (w/ ) at the 2011 events in Shenzhen, China, and Washington, D.C., climbing to a Pan Am Games. In 2015, McHale advanced to the semifinals in career-best No. 123 in the world that year. Pegula has enjoyed even Tokyo and the second round of the Australian Open and Wimbledon. greater success in doubles, competing in the US Open doubles main In 2014, she advanced to her first career WTA singles final in draw in 2011, 2012 and 2015 and peaking at No. 92 in the world Acapulco, Mexico, and the semifinals in Seoul and Strasbourg. in the doubles rankings in February 2013. Pegula’s father, Terry, is McHale made her debut for the U.S. Fed Cup team in the 2010 the owner of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. quarterfinals and holds a 4-5 record in Fed Cup play (all singles), last playing in the 2015 World Group Playoff in Italy. As a junior, , who qualified for and reached the quarterfinals of the McHale swept the singles and doubles titles at the 2009 USTA Girls’ WTA event in Monterrey, Mexico, in April 2014 for her career-best WTA 18s National Championships to earn wild cards into the US Open. result. In addition, following the 2014 US Open, she reached the That year, she also earned a wild card into the main draw of the quarterfinals or better at three $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit events. In Australian Open by winning a USTA wild card playoff. McHale lived her career, Boserup has competed in qualifying at the US Open and in Hong Kong from ages 3 to 8 after her father’s job was transferred, Australian Open, and she has won three USTA Pro Circuit singles and began playing tennis on the courts in the family’s Hong Kong titles, including the $25,000 event in Raleigh, N.C., in 2015— apartment complex. her first USTA Pro Circuit title since 2012, when she achieved a career-best singles ranking of No. 174. In fall 2015, Boserup won , the former world junior No. 1. Townsend was a top the doubles title at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Las storyline at the , where she made her Grand Slam Vegas and reached the singles semifinals at the $75,000 event in main-draw debut and advanced to the third round. She competed in Albuquerque, N.M., and in Macon, Ga. Boserup was a standout the French Open as a wild card after winning the 2014 Har-Tru USTA junior, winning the prestigious in 2008, defeating U.S. Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge, taking the challenge with victories Olympian Christina McHale in the final. at two $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit clay-court events: Charlottesville, Va., and Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. Those were the first two USTA , who peaked at No. 107 in the world in July 2013 Pro Circuit titles of her career. Townsend went on to compete at behind strong results on the USTA Pro Circuit and the WTA Tour. Wimbledon and the US Open in 2014 and at the Australian Open Also in 2013, Sanchez made her debut in a Grand Slam main draw and French Open in 2015. Also in 2015, she cracked the Top 100 by earning a wild card into the US Open. In 2014, she won her first for the first time and made her Fed Cup debut in the World Group II WTA doubles title, in Auckland, New Zealand, with . First Round in Argentina, where she played doubles. She also won For her career, Sanchez has won two USTA Pro Circuit singles titles, a doubles title in Indian Harbour Beach that same year. Townsend both in 2012, and 15 USTA Pro Circuit/ITF-level doubles titles, is a former junior standout, clinching the year-end ITF No. 1 junior including five in 2015 alone. As a junior player, Sanchez was ranked ranking in 2012 to become the first American girl to hold that No. 1 in the U.S. as a 16-year-old and No. 4 in the country as an position since in 1982. She ascended to No. 1 by 18-year-old. She also was the No. 1-ranked collegian and an ITA All- winning the Australian Open junior singles and doubles titles, as American at the University of Southern California, winning the 2011 well as the junior doubles titles at the US Open and Wimbledon. USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship singles title. Also in 2012, she led the U.S. to the Junior Fed Cup championship. Townsend turned pro at the start of 2013 and, in her first WTA-level , who won her second career USTA Pro Circuit singles main-draw match, beat then-No. 57 Lucie Hradecka in the first title in October at the $25,000 event in Rock Hill, S.C; she also round in Indian Wells. After playing primarily pro events early that reached the quarterfinals in Macon, Ga., that month. In May, Brady year, she returned to the junior ranks in 2013 and reached the girls’ completed her sophomore year at UCLA and turned pro. During *Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES the 2014-15 season, the 20-year-old was part of the team that place in August. In 2014, she won the National Playoffs mixed reached the final of the NCAA Team Championships. And during her doubles championship to earn a wild card into the mixed doubles freshman season (2013-14), she was a member of the 2014 NCAA draw at the US Open, where she and partner Joel Kielbowicz lost to championship-winning team. and Taylor Townsend in the first round. Cako completed her NCAA career in 2013 at Arizona State University, where she , who learned to play tennis at the received All-America honors and was named the 2013 Pac-12 Boys and Girls Club in Las Vegas. Muhammad is currently ranked Women’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Cako has thrived in in the Top 100 (at No. 86) in doubles after winning her first WTA doubles on the USTA Pro Circuit, winning seven titles. She peaked at doubles title in the Netherlands in June 2015, as well as four No. 169 in the world doubles rankings in September 2013. She has ITF-level doubles titles last year. In 2013, she captured her first also won two USTA Pro Circuit singles titles, her last coming in 2009. singles title since 2007 at the $25,000 event in Raleigh, N.C. And in 2014, she won back-to-back doubles titles at the $50,000 USTA , who graduated from USC with five All-America Pro Circuit events in Charlottesville, Va., and Indian Harbour Beach, honors (combined singles and doubles) throughout her college Fla.; she also won the US Open National Playoffs USTA Missouri career. In 2015, Santamaria reached the round of 16 at the NCAA Valley Sectional Qualifying Tournament in summer 2014. Overall, singles championships and helped the Trojans advance to the Muhammad holds 18 career USTA Pro Circuit titles (15 doubles, semifinals of the NCAA team championships. In 2013, Santamaria three singles). and doubles partner won the NCAA doubles title.

Danielle Lao, who graduated from USC in 2013 after twice earning Fifteen-year-old , a tournament wild card who in March All-America honors during her college career. During her time in 2015 won her first USTA Pro Circuit singles title, at the $10,000 Los Angeles, she led the Trojans to back-to-back Pac-12 team in Orlando. In winning Orlando, Liu, at age 14 years, 9 months and championships and was a team captain her senior year. In June 25 days old, became the youngest woman to win a USTA Pro Circuit 2015, Lao won her first career USTA Pro Circuit singles title, at the tournament since in 1996 and the sixth-youngest $25,000 event in Baton Rouge, La. Also in 2015, she qualified for ever. As a junior player, Liu peaked at No. 23 in the ITF World Junior the $100,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Midland, Mich., and won Rankings this January. She won the Easter Bowl and advanced to the her first ITF-level singles title, in Leon, Mexico; she also captured quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl, both prestigious junior events, in the doubles title in Leon. She won the first USTA Pro Circuit title 2015. She also reached the third round of junior Wimbledon in 2015. of her career in 2014 in doubles at the $25,000 event in Pelham, Ala. After college, Lao wrote a book, “Invaluable Experience,” about In Maui qualifying, one to watch is rising American talent Raveena playing college tennis. Kingsley, 17, who ranked as high as No. 22 in the ITF World Junior Rankings in 2015 on the strength of reaching the quarterfinals of , who won sectional qualifying titles in 2015 to the junior Australian Open and the semifinals of the Easter Bowl, a advance to the US Open National Playoffs – Women’s Singles, prestigious junior event. She also won matches at the junior US Open Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles Championships, which took and Wimbledon in 2015. *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. , , , Caroline Woznaicki, Kei child’s size. For more information, visit YouthTennis.com. Nishikori, Azarenka and 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 . 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 & 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 ; 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. His successes on the USTA Pro Circuit not only allowed Tiafoe to finish the year ranked 2010, making the US Open No. 176, but also gave him experience on the Grand Slam stage. Tiafoe won the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit “open” to anyone age 14+ and Wild Card Challenge to earn a spot in the , which marked his Grand Slam debut. He of all skill levels. Last year, more also won his first USTA Pro Circuit singles title in 2015 at the $15,000 Futures in Bakersfield, Calif., and than 1,450 players competed reached three additional finals. Tiafoe also competed in the 2015 US Open as a wild card and continues in 13 Sectional Qualifying to climb in the rankings. Tournaments nationwide for a 2015 US Open Qualifying USTA PLAYER DEVELOPMENT Tournament wild card. A men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles element also was held, with the winning team The USTA Player Development program, working with the American Tennis Family of players, coaches earning a US Open main draw doubles wild card. Registration for and families, helps to identify and develop the next generation of American champions by surrounding all 2016 sectional events opens on March 15, with tournaments top junior players and young pros with the resources, facilities and coaching they need to reach their taking place in May and June. The US Open National Playoffs will maximum potential. The Player Development program is based at the USTA Training Center Headquarters take place in New Haven in August. For more information and the in Boca Raton, Fla., and utilizes National Training Centers in Carson, Calif., and Flushing, N.Y., as well as schedule, and to vie for a chance to compete in the US Open, visit a network of Certified Regional Training Centers located throughout the . www.usopen.org/NationalPlayoffs.