Washington To Be Loaded With Young Stars

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 27th June 2013

Washington To Be Loaded With Young Stars

epa03759416 Heather Watson of Britain serves to Madison Keys of the US during their first round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 25 June 2013. EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

Many of the world’s top young female tennis stars have committed to play in this year’s Citi Open.

Sloane Stephens, Sorana Cirstea, Simona Halep, Madison Keys, Heather Watson, Christina McHale, Eugenie Bouchard, and Taylor Townsend, all age 23 and under, are part of the outstanding Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) player field competing for the Citi Open title. The world-class tournament will be held on July 27-August 4 at the William H.G. Fitzgerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park.

The group of rising American stars is headlined by 20-year-old Stephens, currently ranked No. 17 and the second highest ranked American on the WTA Tour. She returns to the Washington hard courts for a second year in a row, after reaching the semifinals at the tournament last year. Keys, 18, ranked No. 53, is making her first appearance in Washington after making her top 100 debut just earlier this year. She currently ranks No. 70. Townsend, 17, finished 2012 as the top-ranked junior in the world and received the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Junior World Champion award in June 2013.

At No. 66, 19-year-old Bouchard is Canada’s highest ranked female singles player. This week, she clinched the biggest victory of her career when she defeated world No. 12 Ana Ivanovic in straight sets to reach the third round of Wimbledon. She will make her third appearance in Washington this summer—last year, she reached the quarterfinals.

Cirstea, 23, and Halep, 21, are the top two Romanians in the WTA rankings. Cirstea, ranked No. 23 after reaching the 3rd round of the French Open and Australian Open this year, holds one career singles title and four career doubles titles. Halep won back-to-back WTA titles in the last two weeks—her first two titles on the WTA Tour. She currently ranks No. 32. Both women will compete in Washington for the first time.

Watson, 21, is the United Kingdom’s second highest ranked female singles player at No. 56. Last year, she won her first WTA singles title at the Japan Open and also collected two doubles titles.

The Citi Open is one of only 11 elite ATP World Tour 500-level events worldwide and the only one held in the United States. The event is also part of the prestigious Emirates Airline US Open Series, the five-week summer tennis season that links nine North American hard-court tournaments to the final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open.

In addition, the Citi Open features a WTA International Tournament which provides fans the opportunity to watch simultaneous competitions of both world-class men’s and women’s tennis throughout the nine-day event. The tournament features 48 men’s singles players and 16 doubles teams, 32 women’s singles players and 16 doubles teams, and offers nearly $2 million in player compensation.

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superslamtennis says:

June 27, 2013 at 10:19 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: Washington To Be Loaded With Young Stars: Many of the world’s top young female tennis stars have comm… http://t.co/tVTn…