Harrison In As Hewitt Steps Out For Surgery

Written by: Staff on 25th March 2011

Harrison In As Hewitt Steps Out For Surgery |

American teenager Ryan Harrison has accepted a wild card for next month’s US Men’s Clay Court Championship at River Oaks Country Club. His entry brings the number of Americans in the field to seven for the 28-player event that will be held April 4-10.

This will be Harrison’s first main draw appearance in Houston since he made history in 2008 when he qualified into the main draw and defeated Pablo Cuevas, becoming the 11th player in the Open Era to win an ATP World Tour match before turning 16 and the first since Rafael Nadal in 2002. The now 18-year-old Harrison, a native of Shreveport, La., reached the fourth round last week in Indian Wells, which propelled him up 22 ranking spots to a career high No. 130.

Harrison has accepted a wild card after Lleyton Hewitt was forced return his and withdraw from the tournament following foot surgery on Saturday.

Former champions Mardy Fish (2006) and Juan Ignacio Chela (2010) are projected to be two of the top seeds for the 2011 event. Joining Fish and Harrison will be their American counterparts James Blake, Robert Kendrick, John Isner, Sam Querrey and Michael Russell.

Three-time doubles champions Bob and Mike Bryan, who claimed their 10th career major title by winning the Australian Open earlier this year, will headline the doubles field for the US Men’s Clay Court Championship. Among the other doubles teams in the field is the red hot American duo of Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram, who have won two titles and reached one other final already in 2011.

The doubles field also includes four other teams with one member who owns a Grand Slam doubles title: Jonathan Erlich (playing with Rainer Schuettler in Houston) won the 2008 Australian Open, Pablo Cuevas (playing with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez) won the 2008 French Open, Stephen Huss (playing with Ashley Fisher) won the 2005 Wimbledon title, and Jamie Murray (playing with Mischa Zverev) won the 2007 Wimbledon mixed doubles title.