SAVANNAH, April 28, 2019
2017 champion Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, Tennessee has been awarded a main draw wild card into the 2019 St. Joseph’s/Candler (SJ/C) Savannah Challenger, a USTA Pro Circuit & ATP Challenger 80 event.
The 27-year-old US-American is currently ranked No. 103 in the world and is coming off a singles final appearance at the Sarasota Open and semi-final showing at the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger. Sandgren started his year by picking up the first ATP Tour title of his career at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand after defeating Cameron Norrie in the final.
In 2018, he beat top-10 players Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem en route to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. Sandgren then went on to achieve a career-high rank of No. 47 in the world in April 2018 after reaching the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship final.
In 2017, Sandgren claimed the SJ/C Savannah Challenger singles title after battling past Joao Pedro Sorgi in the final. With the strong showing on clay courts, he locked up the USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Tennis Challenge and played at the French Open.
“We are very excited to have Tennys back on the courts of Savannah,” said Tournament Director Chris Kader. “He has enjoyed a lot of success on the ATP Tour since he won our event in 2017, so I am sure the community will come out and support him next week.”
Sandgren leads the field
Sandgren will be the top seed of the ATP Challenger clay-court event, opening his title bid after a first-round bye against either Brayden Klein of Great Britain and ITF-entry Alexander Ritschard from the United States.
Second seed will be Italian veteran Paolo Lorenzi, who awaits the winner of the encounter between Ham Hoang Ly from Vietnam and a qualifier.
Main draw wild cards have also been awarded to Christopher Eubanks, Sebastian Korda, Cannon Kingsley, and Jordi Arconada.
The St. Joseph’s/Candler Savannah Challenger is celebrating its 11th year. This is the only ATP Challenger Tour men’s event to take place in the state of Georgia; a USTA Pro Circuit W80 women’s event will be hosted in Macon in the fall. Savannah is taking part in the Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, which will award a men’s and women’s wild card into the 2019 French Open. The challenge began the week of April 8 and concludes the week of April 29
