2010 NCAA Champion Bradley Klahn Earns US Open Wild Card Through USTA Pro Circuit Events

Written by: Staff on 9th August 2013

2010 NCAA Champion Bradley Klahn Earns US Open Wild Card Through USTA Pro Circuit Events

epa03374459 Bradley Klahn of the US hits a return to Jurgen Melzer of Austria during their match on the third day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 29 August 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/JASON SZENES |

The USTA announced that Bradley Klahn, 22, of Poway, Calif., earned a main draw wild card into the 2013 US Open tonight by defeating Wayne Odesnik in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 USTA Pro Circuit Challenger in Aptos, Calif., clinching the wild card awarded to the American man who earns the most ranking points in two of four USTA Pro Circuit hard-court events ($50,000 events in Binghamton, N.Y., and Lexington, Ky., and $100,000 events in Vancouver, B.C., and Aptos).

Klahn has so far earned a combined 83 points with his best two results, reaching the final in Binghamton to earn 48 points and earning 35 points today by reaching the Aptos semifinals. Klahn overtook Alex Kuznetsov in the wild card standings (Kuznetsov earned 80 points by winning Binghamton and did not score any points in the other three tournaments).

Klahn won the 2010 NCAA men’s singles title for Stanford University, the school’s 14th collegiate singles title and first singles title since 2000. He was also an All-American in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and was named the ITA National Rookie of the Year for the 2008-09 season.

Following his pro debut in 2012, Klahn received a wild card into qualifying at the 2012 US Open and, subsequently, won three matches to advance to the main draw. In the US Open main draw, he upset Top 50 player and fellow lefty Jurgen Melzer in the first round in five sets. In doing so, Klahn became the first men’s qualifying wild card to win a round at the US Open.

Klahn is currently ranked a career-high No. 147, climbing more than 100 places in the ATP World Tour Rankings since the beginning of the year. Klahn won his first career USTA Pro Circuit singles title this year at the $15,000 Futures in Costa Mesa, Calif. He also reached the final of the $50,000 Challengers in Binghamton and Winnetka, Ill. Earlier this year, Klahn served as a practice partner for the U.S. Davis Cup team in Jacksonville, Fla., where the United States defeated Brazil.

Klahn started playing tennis when he was 11 years old after his mother, who played tennis at Iowa, signed him up for a summer round-robin league.

Two weeks ago, Shelby Rogers won the women’s 2013 US Open wild card. The USTA first used this wild card format for its 2012 French Open wild cards, won by Melanie Oudin and Brian Baker, who each advanced to the second round at last year’s French Open and subsequently broke into the Top 100. The USTA also used this format to grant a men’s and women’s main draw wild card into the 2012 US Open, which was won by Steve Johnson and Mallory Burdette, who both reached the third round of the US Open, as well as the 2013 French Open, which was won by Kuznetsov and Rogers.