WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., August 17, 2011 – USTA Player Development announced today the eight
men and eight women who will participate in the second annual US Open Wild Card Playoff, being
held at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, a USTA Certified Regional Training Center in College
Park, Md., August 18-20. The winners will receive main draw singles wild cards into the men’s and
women’s draws at the 2011 US Open.
The men’s field includes top-seeded Bobby Reynolds (Acworth, Ga.), a former All-American at
Vanderbilt who has been as high as No. 63 in the world on the ATP World Tour and is currently No.
120; and Bjorn Fratangelo (Plum, Pa.), who in June became the first American since John
McEnroe in 1977 to win the French Open boys’ singles title.
The local favorites will be Denis Kudla (Arlington, Va.), and Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.), who
both train at the Junior Tennis Champions Center. Kudla, who reached the quarterfinals of the Hall
of Fame Championships in Newport, R.I., in July, is currently ranked No. 325 in the world and was
the US Open boys’ singles runner-up last year. Frank, an incoming freshman at the University of
Virginia, was the runner-up at the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships last week.
Four of last season’s top collegians round out the men’s field. Daniel Kosakowski (Huntington Park,
Calif.) turned professional after his freshman year at UCLA and recently won his first Tour-level
match at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles. Tennys Sandgren (Gallatin, Tenn.), a rising junior at
the University of Tennessee, recently won back-to-back Futures titles on the USTA Pro Circuit.
Rhyne Williams (Knoxville, Tenn.), the 2011 NCAA singles runner-up for the University of
Tennessee, turned pro after winning his second professional title in June at the USTA Pro Circuit
Futures in Innisbrook, Fla. Bradley Klahn (Poway, Calif.) won the 2010 NCAA men’s singles title
and will be a senior at Stanford this fall.
The women’s field includes top-seeded Julia Cohen (Philadelphia), a former All-American for the
University of Miami who in May reached the final of an ITF Pro Circuit $25,000 event in Thailand;
and local favorite Beatrice Capra (Ellicott City, Md.), who won this event last year and subsequently
reached the third round of the 2010 US Open.
The women’s field also includes two former USTA Girls’ 18s National Champions in 2007 champion
Ashley Weinhold (Austin, Texas), and 2008 champion Gail Brodsky (Brooklyn, N.Y.), as well as
two-time USTA Girls’ 18s runner-up Nicole Gibbs (Santa Monica, Calif.), who as a freshman helped
lead Stanford to the final of the 2011 NCAA women’s team championships.
Rounding out the field are Madison Keys (Boca Raton, Fla.), who won her first professional title in
2010 at the USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 event in Cleveland; Jessica Pegula (Boca Raton, Fla.), who
reached her first professional final in January at the USTA Pro Circuit $25,000 event in Lutz, Fla.;
and Ahsha Rolle (Miami Shores, Fla.), a 10-time champion on the USTA Pro Circuit who reached
the third round of the 2007 US Open.
Seeding for the event is based on this week’s ATP World Tour and WTA Rankings, and there will be
media availability with the players on Wednesday, August 17. For additional information including
ticket pricing, please visit www.jtcc.org.