USTA Press Release, November 12, 2018

Jack Sock will play in the main draw of the Australian Open this January, either via direct or wild-card entry, as he clinched the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge on Sunday.

Bjorn Fratangelo’s loss to Reilly Opelka in the singles final of the USTA Pro Circuit $75,000 Challenger in Knoxville, Tenn., clinched the Challenge for Sock, who is ranked No. 106, which is on the cusp of the usual cut-off mark for direct entry into Melbourne. Should Sock receive direct entry, the wild card would go to the Challenge’s second-place finisher, which will likely be decided with this week’s results at the Oracle $150,000 Challenger in Houston and the USTA Pro Circuit $75,000 Challenger in Champaign, Ill.

The women’s Challenge will also be decided this week in Houston, as three of the top four players in the points standings — Varvara Lepchenko (126), Whitney Osuigwe (125) and Nicole Gibbs (81) — are all entered into the main draw of the WTA $125,000 Series event there.

The women’s wild card will be awarded to the American with the highest cumulative total of WTA singles ranking points earned from their best three results during those four weeks, at three $80,000 USTA Pro Circuit women’s events (main draw points only) and one WTA $125,000 event (main draw and qualifying points).

Click here to view the full women’s standings after Week 1 of 3 for the men and Week 2 of 4 for the women.

Only Americans who do not earn direct entry into the Australian Open are eligible. In the event of a tie, the player with the best ATP or best WTA singles ranking on Nov. 19 will be awarded the wild card.

All USTA Pro Circuit tournaments will be streamed live on www.procircuit.usta.com. The Challenge will consist of the following events:

Men’s Events

• Week of November 12: ATP $150,000 Challengers (Houston; Bangalore, India); USTA Pro Circuit $75,000 Challenger (Champaign, Ill.); ATP $50,000 Challenger (Kobe, Japan)

Remaining Women’s Events

• Week of November 12: WTA $125,000 Series Event (Houston, Texas)

The 2019 Australian Open will be held January 14-27.