USTA Press Release, July 31, 2018

Gail Brodsky, a former junior national champion and now a 27-year old mother of two, catapulted to the lead of the US Open Wild Card Challenge on Sunday by winning the singles title at the $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Ashland, Ky.

Brodsky came through qualifying to beat former Cal-Berkeley All-American Maegan Manasse in the Ashland singles final to spike her Challenge point total up to 88, outpacing Manasse’s 56 in second place. The title is Brodsky’s first at the $60,000 level and comes nearly 10 years after making her US Open debut in 2008.

Six years after retiring and two kids later, #USTennis player Gail Brodsky is back on tour and wins the biggest title of her career at the $60K #USTAProCircuit event in Ashland!

Read More: https://t.co/cSQpqlkKhj pic.twitter.com/SHFjsUOQ9O

— USTA (@usta) 29. Juli 2018

Brodsky, who was born in Ukraine and moved with her family to Brooklyn at 6 years old, was a star as a junior and defeated both Sloane Stephens and CoCo Vandeweghe en route to winning the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championship in 2008. She made two main-draw appearances at the US Open as a wild card in 2008-09 and was a fixture on the Pro Circuit in the following years, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 182 in 2012.

She then didn’t make a competitive appearance from August 2012 to June 2015 and only played in six tournaments from 2015 until March of this year while becoming a mother of two. The title in Ashland is her second in the last five weeks, after winning a $15,000 event in Victoria, British Columbia, in late June.

Bradley Klahn‘s 80 points still leads the men’s side of the Challenge as it enters its fourth of five weeks. The ATP tournaments in Washington, D.C., and Los Cabos, Mexico, are both in play, as well as Challengers in Segovia, Spain and Chengdu, China, in addition to the $75,000 Challenger in Lexington, Ky. Results from Lexington also count toward the women’s side of the Challenge this week, in addition to the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, a WTA Premier event on the US Open Series, and the Citi Open WTA International in Washington, D.C.

Click here to view the full standings.

Only hard-court events are included in the Challenge, which will consider the best three results for the men and the best two results for the women during this five-week window. Only Americans who do not earn direct entry into the US Open are eligible. In the event of a tie, the player with the best ATP or best WTA singles ranking on Aug. 13 will be awarded the wild card.

The remaining events in the US Open Wild Card Challenge:

Men’s Events

• Week of July 30: Washington D.C. ATP 500; Los Cabos ATP 250; Chengdu, China $125,000; Segovia, Spain €85,000+H; Lexington, Ky. $75,000
• Week of August 6: Toronto ATP Masters 1000; Jinan, China $150,000; Aptos, Calif. $100,000; Portoroz, Slovenia €64,000+H

Women’s Events

• Week of July 30: San Jose WTA Premier; Washington, D.C. WTA International; Lexington, Ky. $60,000
• Week of August 6: Landisville, Pa. $60,000