USTA Press Release, July 26, 2022
Former college All-American Aleks Kovacevic and reigning USTA Girls’ 18s national champion Ashlyn Krueger are currently in line for US Open wild cards via the US Open Wild Card Challenge.
The 23-year-old Kovacevic, a two-time All-American at Illinois now ranked a career-high No. 227, leads the eligible men after reaching the final at the USTA Pro Circuit Challenger 80 in Indianapolis last week (Ben Shelton has been removed from the standings as he will receive a wild card after winning the NCAA men’s singles title).
The standings after Week 2 of 5 for the men are as follows:
1. Aleks Kovacevic — 66
2. Ethan Quinn — 25
3. Alex Rybakov — 23
The 18-year-old Krueger leads the women’s standings after winning her first pro singles title at the USTA Pro Circuit W60 event in Evansville, Ind., last week. Krueger competed as a wild card in both the 2021 US Open women’s singles and doubles main draws after sweeping the USTA Girls’ 18s singles and doubles titles (lost first round in singles to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova; reached second round in doubles with Robin Montgomery).
The standings after Week 1 of 4 for the women are as follows:
1. Ashlyn Krueger — 80
2. Jamie Loeb — 68
3. Sachia Vickery — 43
The Challenge utilizes hard-court pro tournaments to award an American man and woman a main draw wild card into the US Open. Both wild cards will go to the American with the highest cumulative total of ATP or WTA singles ranking points earned from their best three results during their respective windows. Both the men’s and women’s Challenges will include results from any professional hard-court event at the 25 level and above around the world. Both main draw and qualifying points earned count toward each player’s Challenge total.
Americans who otherwise earn direct entry into the US Open are not eligible, nor are players ranked in the ATP or WTA Top 50 when the Challenges begin. Should the player with the highest number of Challenge points earn direct entry into the US Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. In the event of a tie, the player with the best ATP or best WTA singles ranking on August 15 will earn the wild card.
Previous US Open Wild Card Challenge winners (and how they did at that year’s US Open) are below:
2019: Ernesto Escobedo (1R), Kristie Ahn (4R)
2018: Bradley Klahn (1R), Asia Muhammad (1R)
2017: Tommy Paul (1R), Sofia Kenin (3R)
2016: Ernesto Escobedo (2R), Sofia Kenin (1R)
2015: Bjorn Fratangelo (1R), Samantha Crawford (1R)
2014: Wayne Odesnik (1R), Nicole Gibbs (3R)
2013: Bradley Klahn (2R), Shelby Rogers (1R)
2012: Steve Johnson (3R), Mallory Burdette (3R)
