TOURNAMENT NOTES as of April 15, 2015 HARDEE’S PRO CLASSIC DOTHAN, AL • APRIL 19-26 USTA PRO CIRCUIT WOMEN’S TENNIS RETURNS TO DOTHAN, KICKS OFF HAR-TRU USTA PRO CIRCUIT WILD CARD CHALLENGE The Hardee’s Pro Classic will take place in Dothan for the 15th consecutive year. It is USTA one of two USTA Pro Circuit events held in TOURNAMENT Alabama, joining a $25,000 women’s event INFORMATION in Pelham held last week. In conjunction Site: Westgate Tennis Center – Dothan, Ala. with USTA Player Development, the USTA Pro Circuit continues to emphasize the Websites: www.hardeesproclassic.org importance of increased training for younger procircuit.usta.com players on clay. Wild Card Challenge Twitter: #HarTruWildCard Dothan is also one of three consecutive Qualifying Draw Begins: Sunday, April 19 women’s clay-court tournaments (joining $50,000 events in Charlottesville, Va., and Main Draw Begins: Tuesday, April 21 Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.) that are part Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles of the Har-Tru Wild Card Challenge, which will award a men’s and a women’s wild card Surface: Clay / Outdoors into the 2015 French Open. Along with Prize Money: $50,000 these three women’s tournaments, the men’s Dothan defending champion and former tournaments in the challenge are the 2015 US Open girls’ singles winner Grace Min earned a career-high ranking of No. 97 in the Tournament Director: Sarasota Open in Sarasota, Fla., the week of Kim Meeker, (334) 615-3700, [email protected] world last month. In 2014, she advanced to April 13; the St. Joseph’s/Candler Savannah her first WTA semifinal at the tour event in Bad Tournament Press Contact: Challenger in Savannah, Ga., the week of Gastein, Austria. Cricket Lee, (334) 797-7208 April 20; and the USTA Tallahassee Tennis [email protected] Challenger in Tallahassee, Fla., the week of April 27. French Open, which runs Sunday, May 24, USTA Communications Contact: to Sunday, June 7. Only players who do not Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219, [email protected] The American man and American woman receive direct entry into the French Open are PRIZE MONEY / POINTS who earn the most ATP and WTA ranking eligible for the wild cards. The USTA and the points at two of the three USTA Pro Circuit French Tennis Federation have a reciprocal SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points clay-court events will receive USTA wild agreement in which wild cards into the Winner $7,600 70 cards to compete in the main draws of the 2015 French Open and 2015 US Open are Runner-up $4,053 50 exchanged. Semifinalist $2,216 32 Quarterfinalist $1,267 18 The Hardee’s Pro Classic will be streamed Round of 16 $760 10 live on www.procircuit.usta.com. Round of 32 $444 1 DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) Al Bello/Getty Images To follow the tournament, download the USTA Winner $2,786 Pro Circuit’s new phone app by searching Runner-up $1,393 “procircuit” in the app store. Semifinalist $696 Quarterfinalist $380 Notable players competing in the main draw Round of 16 $254 include: COMMUNITY EVENTS Grace Min, Dothan’s top seed and Sunday, April 19 – Family Day defending singles champion, who rose to Monday, April 20 – Pro-Am, 4:30 p.m. at a career-high No. 97 in the world last Tuesday, April 21 – Schools Visit Wednesday, April 22 – Schools Visit Anna Tatishvili qualified for the 2015 Australian Thursday, April 23 – Montgomery-Dothan Challenge Open and reached the second round. She peaked at No. 50 in the world in singles in October 2012 Friday, April 24 – Hardee’s Night and No. 59 in doubles in May 2012. Saturday, April 25 – 10 and Under Tennis Jamboree, 10:30 a.m. *Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES month after reaching the second round of the WTA’s Rio Open and the main draws of the women’s singles and women’s doubles events at competing in Indian Wells. Last year, Min reached the semifinals the 2013 US Open. At the Open, she won her first-round match in her of the WTA event in Bad Gastein, Austria—her first WTA semifinal. Grand Slam debut, defeating Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in straight sets. As She also competed in the US Open and French Open main draws in a junior, Vickery ascended to No. 6 in the ITF World Junior Rankings, 2014, qualifying at Roland Garros. Min was one of the top juniors reaching the doubles semifinals of junior Wimbledon in 2012 and in the world in 2011, when she won the US Open girls’ singles title competing in the junior events of all four Grand Slam tournaments. and the Wimbledon girls’ doubles title; she also reached the singles She trains with the USTA Player Development program at the USTA semifinals at the Easter Bowl and the USTA International Spring Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. Championships. Those results propelled her to No. 4 in the world junior rankings. In 2013, she qualified for the French Open—her Julia Boserup, who qualified for and reached the quarterfinals of the first main-draw Grand Slam appearance outside the U.S.—as well WTA event in Monterrey, Mexico, in April 2014, her career-best WTA as the US Open. She holds five USTA Pro Circuit singles titles, with result. In addition, following the 2014 US Open, she reached the two titles coming in 2014. quarterfinals or better at three $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit events. In her career, Boserup has competed in qualifying for the US Open and Anna Tatishvili, who qualified for the 2015 Australian Open and Australian Open, and she has won two USTA Pro Circuit singles titles— reached the second round. She peaked at No. 50 in the world in the $25,000 event in Redding, Calif., in 2011 and the $25,000 event singles in October 2012 and at No. 59 in doubles in May 2012. in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., in 2012, when she achieved a career- Her best Grand Slam result came at the 2012 US Open, where she best singles ranking of No. 174. Boserup was also a standout junior, reached the fourth round before falling to former world No. 1 Victoria winning the prestigious Orange Bowl in 2008, defeating future U.S. Azarenka. Tatishvili won her first WTA doubles title last year in Olympian Christina McHale in the final. Linz, Austria. She has also won eight USTA Pro Circuit singles titles (including two in 2014) and three ITF Circuit singles titles in her Maria Sanchez, who peaked at No. 107 in the world in July 2013 career. As a junior player, Tatishvili climbed as high as No. 19 in the behind strong results on the USTA Pro Circuit and the WTA tour. ITF World Junior Rankings and reached the doubles semifinals at the She started that year by reaching the quarterfinals of the $100,000 2006 junior Australian Open with Caroline Wozniacki. Tatishvili is a USTA Pro Circuit event in Midland, Mich., and competing in native fo the former Soviet republic of Georgia, but became a U.S. three WTA events. Also in 2013, Sanchez made her Grand Slam citizen in April 2014. tournament debut as a US Open wild card. In 2014, she won her first WTA doubles title, in Auckland, New Zealand, with Sharon Louisa Chirico, 18, who outperformed every other U.S. junior in the Fichman. Sanchez has won two USTA Pro Circuit singles titles, both 2013 French Open Junior Championships, reaching the girls’ singles in 2012, and seven USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles. This year, she semifinals before falling to eventual champion Belinda Bencic in reached the final of the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Rancho three sets. Chirico then reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon Santa Fe, Calif., losing to up-and-coming young American Catherine juniors, again losing to Bencic (who would go on to reach the 2014 Bellis. As a junior player, Sanchez was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. as a US Open women’s singles quarterfinalist), and the quarterfinals of 16-year-old and No. 4 in the country as an 18-year-old. She also was the junior US Open to finish the 2013 season in the Top 10 of the the top-ranked collegian and an ITA All-American at USC, winning ITF World Junior Rankings. In 2012, Chirico teamed with Taylor the 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship Townsend to lead the United States to the Junior Fed Cup title in singles title. Barcelona, Spain. Chirico won her first USTA Pro Circuit singles title that same year at the $10,000 event in Sumter, S.C., and her first Jessica Pegula, who is using a protected ranking to compete in doubles title in 2013 at the $50,000 event in Indian Harbour Beach, Dothan after playing in just one tournament last year because of a Fla. In 2014, she reached the doubles semifinals or better at five knee injury. Pegula had a breakthrough moment in 2013 when she USTA Pro Circuit events, won an ITF Circuit singles title in Italy and reached the third round of the WTA event in Charleston, S.C., as a reached one additional ITF singles final in Switzerland. This year, she qualifier. She also qualified into the WTA events in Shenzhen, China, competed in qualifying at the Australian Open and reached the final and Washington, D.C. Pegula played in the US Open doubles main of the $100,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Midland, Mich., and the draw in 2011 and 2012.