CINCINNATI (August 8, 2012) - Ten players, including nine Americans, have been awarded wild cards for this weekend’s qualifying tournament for spots in the main draw of the Western & Southern Open.
The six wild cards for the 48-player WTA qualifying draw have been awarded to Julia Cohen, Nicole Gibbs, Madison Keys, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Melanie Oudin, Yulia Putintseva.
The four wild cards for the 28-player ATP World Tour qualifying draw have been awarded to Robby Ginepri, Christian Harrison, Rajeev Ram and Jack Sock.
Here’s a brief glimpse at each of the wild card recipients:
WTA
Cohen: A 23-year-old from Philadelphia who was ranked as high as No. 7 in the ITF Junior Rankings, she reached her first career WTA final last month at Baku.
Gibbs: A 19-year-old who was born in Cincinnati, she won the 2012 NCAA singles and doubles championship while playing for Stanford.
Keys: A 17-year-old who was born in Rock Island, Ill., she made her Grand Slam debut last summer at the US Open and reached the second round.
Mattek-Sands: A native of Rochester, Minn., she has been as high as No. 30 in the world in singles and No. 11 in doubles and is now making a comeback after battling a hip injury.
Oudin: A quarterfinalist at the 2009 US Open, she won her first career title earlier this summer in England at the grass court tournament in Birmingham.
Putintseva: The 17-year-old who plays for Kazakhstan has won three ITF event titles in 2012 and is a former Junior finalist at both the Australian Open and US Open.
ATP WORLD TOUR
Ginepri: A semifinalist at both the Western & Southern Open and US Open in 2005, he has been ranked as high as No. 15 in the world.
Harrison: An 18-year-old, he is the younger brother of US Olympian Ryan. He reached his first career Challenger semifinal last month in Lexington.
Ram: A former NCAA team champion with the University of Illinois, the native of Carmel, Ind., owns one career ATP title and this summer has reached semifinals at Newport and Los Angeles.
Sock: The 19-year-old from Lincoln, Neb., won the 2010 US Open junior title and reached his first career ATP quarterfinal this summer at Atlanta.
Among the players already entered in the WTA qualifying draw are American Coco Vandeweghe who reached her first career final at Stanford, French Open quarterfinalist Yaroslava Shvedova – last year’s doubles champion in Cincinnati along with fellow qualifying participant Vania King, and Olympic doubles silver medalist partners Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova.
The No. 25 player on the ATP World Tour rankings Tommy Haas is projected to be the top seed in the men’s qualifying, the highest-ever ranking for a player in the qualifying field. The former World No. 2 has this summer won the title in Halle and reached the finals in Washington D.C. and Hamburg.
Qualifying for both events begins on Saturday, August 11, at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. Main draw play for the ATP tournament begins Sunday, August 12, while the WTA event begins Monday.