New Haven Open – Wimbledon Champion & Finalist Headline Field That Includes Five of Top 10 Players

Written by: Staff on 10th July 2013

New Haven Open - Wimbledon Champion & Finalist Headline Field That Includes Five of Top 10 Players

epa03780711 A picture made available on 08 July 2013 of French Marion Bartoli posing with the trophy at the Wimbledons Champions Dinner after winning the Wimbledon Championships in London, Britain, 07 July 2013. EPA/ROBERT MARTIN / POOL |

World No. 6 Sara Errani, Defending Champion and World No. 8 Petra Kvitova, World No. 9 Angelique Kerber and Four-Time Champion and World No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki Lead 2013 Field

New Haven Open and WTA Professional Melanie Oudin Lead Free Tennis Lesson in Newtown

NEW HAVEN, Conn., July 10, 2013 – Wimbledon Champion and World No. 7 Marion Bartoli and Wimbledon Finalist and World No. 18 Sabine Lisicki join four additional top 10 players in the field for the 2013 New Haven Open at Yale presented by First Niagara, a WTA event that is part of the Emirates Airline US Open Series to be held August 16-24, 2013 at the Connecticut Tennis Center, it was announced today by Tournament Director Anne Worcester.

Bartoli is fresh off her first career Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, becoming just the sixth player in the open era to win the title without dropping a set. This was the 28-year-old Frenchwoman’s 47th appearance in a Grand Slam and her victory breaks the record for the longest wait to win a maiden Major title. Bartoli will be making her 10th appearance at the New Haven Open, where she has previously reached the quarterfinals six times.

She will be joined by Lisicki, who also reached this year’s Wimbledon final. The German pulled off two of the biggest wins of her career over the fortnight, upsetting World No. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams in the round of 16 and World No. 4 and defending finalist Agniezka Radwanska in the semifinals. This will be her first appearance at the New Haven Open.

Aside from Bartoli, four other players in this year’s New Haven Open player field are ranked in the WTA top 10: No. 6 and 2012 French Open finalist Sara Errani, who has reached the semifinals or better in three of the last four Grand Slams; No. 8 and defending New Haven Open champion Petra Kvitova, who rolled to the 2012 title without dropping a set; No. 9 Angelique Kerber, who will be making her New Haven Open debut this year; and No. 10 and four-time champion Caroline Wozniacki, who is looking to regain her title after she was forced to retire in last year’s semifinals.

“It’s Wimbledon in New Haven! Not only do we have Wimbledon Champion Marion Bartoli and Wimbledon Finalist Sabine Lisicki, but we also have 2011 Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova and English sensation Laura Robson,” said Worcester. “All told, we have five of the top 10 players in the world, and this year’s New Haven Open player field is one of the strongest we’ve ever had.”

In addition to announcing the player field today, the New Haven Open and First Niagara, American tennis professional Melanie Oudin, and ESPN Anchor Prim Siripipat led a Free Lesson for youth in Newtown, Connecticut to show support from one Connecticut community to another. Oudin and USTA New England taught kids from the Newtown Parks & Rec Day Camp the basics of tennis and emphasized the importance of fitness in their lives.

“It was really special to be able to spread the joy of tennis to the kids in the Newtown community,” said Oudin. “Thank you so much to Anne for inviting me to be a part of this wonderful day.”

Joining the top-10 stars in this year’s field are six other top-25 players: No. 11 Roberta Vinci, who won a singles title in Katowice, Poland this year and is a part of the World No. 1 doubles team along with Errani; Carla Suarez Navarro, who has reached two WTA finals this year in Acapulco and Oeiras, Portugal; Dominika Cibulkova, who won the second singles title of her career in Carlsbad in 2012; Elena Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who each have won two WTA titles this year (Vesnina – Hobart and Eastbourne, Pavlyuchenkova – Monterrey and Oeiras); and Ekaterina Makarova, who, along with Vesnina, won the 2013 French Open doubles title.

Other top-30 players represented are No. 26 Sorana Cirstea, No. 27 Laura Robson, No. 29 Lucie Safarova and No. 30 Simona Halep. Cirstea is just a few spots off her career-high ranking of No. 22, which she reached in June; Robson is the youngest player in the field at only 19 years old and is the first British woman in the top 30 since 1987; Safarova was an integral part of the Czech Fed Cup team that captured back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012; and Halep currently sits at her career-high ranking after winning two WTA singles titles in the last month in Nurnberg, Germany and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

Rounding out the field are young rising stars Kristina Mladenovic, who won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon, and Bojana Jovanovski; Urszula Radwanska, younger sister to World No. 4 Agnieszka; Peng Shuai, who won the doubles title at Wimbledon, and Magdalena Rybarikova.

This year, fans will be closer to the action than ever before, as the New Haven Open consolidates all seating into the Box Ring of the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale. This enhanced proximity to the players and on-court action as well as increased in-stadium entertainment is available starting at just $24. Tickets for the 2013 tournament are on sale now, so fans will want to buy early to secure their seats.

For more information on the 2013 tournament, volunteer opportunities and to secure tickets, log on to www.newhavenopen.com or call the New Haven Open Box Office at 855-464-8366. Also, make sure to join the New Haven Open on Facebook & Twitter for tournament updates, contests and more.

Topics: Angelique Kerber, Marion Bartoli, new haven open, Newport tennis news, Petra Kvitova, Sabine Lisicki, Sara Errani, Sports

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10sBalls_com says:

July 10, 2013 at 11:34 am

@newhavenopen – Wimbledon Champion & Finalist Headline Field That Includes Five of Top 10 Players – http://t.co/Y7eXTxHFlq @BleacherReport
10sBalls.com says:

July 10, 2013 at 11:35 am

New Haven Open – Wimbledon Champion & Finalist Headline Field That Includes Five of Top 10 Players- https://archive.10sballs.com/?p=91282