Frances Tiafoe’s superb summer recognized with an Open Main Draw spot
Olympian Denis Kudla makes 4th appearance at Flushing Meadows
World #18 Treat Huey goes for Doubles glory in New York
Wimbledon Girls’ Doubles Champion, Usue Arconada, gains a place in Women’s Qualifying
Frances Tiafoe (Photo Credit – Michael Bonfigli)
A recent JTCC alumnus, Frances Tiafoe has surged up the ATP rankings this year to a career high #123 by reaching four ATP Challenger finals since April and claiming his first ATP Challenger title at the $100,000 Challenger Banque Nationale de Granby in Canada earlier this month. The eighteen-year-old will make his third Grand Slam main draw appearance next week having previously competed at the 2015 French Open and US Open.
“Frances fully deserves his second opportunity to play in the main draw at the US Open,” said JTCC CEO Ray Benton. “He has proven to himself and everyone who has watched him progress that he has the skills to win at this level which gives him confidence.”
Fresh off representing Team USA at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero, Denis Kudla joins Tiafoe in the men’s singles at the Open. 2016 marks the first year that the twenty-four-year old has played in the main draw at all four Grand Slams.
Doubles specialist Treat Huey has had an outstanding season which has seen him climb into the top 20 on the world rankings and reach the semifinals at Wimbledon last month. The thirty-year-old partners Belarusian Max Miryni as he makes his 6th appearance in the US Open doubles draw.
Seventeen-year-old Usue Arconada begins her second consecutive US Open qualifying draw campaign on Wednesday. In her opening match, she plays world #206 Ya-Hsuan Lee from Chinese Taipei.
Usue Arconada (Photo Credit – Michael Bonfigli)
(Photo Credit – Michael Bonfigli)[/caption]Arconada has had a memorable summer highlighted by her triumph in the Girls’ Doubles at Wimbledon and winning her first WTA main draw match at the Citi Open in Washington, DC defeating a player ranked #229 in the world. In 2016, she has also climbed over 200 places to achieve a #441 WTA ranking.
“Usue enters the US Open qualifying as a much more experienced player than she was in 2015,” said JTCC Senior Director of High Performance Tennis Frank Salazar. ” The significance of winning a main draw match at the Citi Open in July cannot be overstated. “
