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USTA to Host Playoff Tournament to Determine 2009 Australian Open Main Draw Wild Card Recipients This Week

The USTA is hosting a playoff this week to award a men’s and a women’s singles main draw wild card to the 2009 Australian Open. The women’s wild card tournament began yesterday at the USTA Training Center in Boca Raton, Fla., and concludes Thursday. The men’s wild card tournament will be held Friday thru Sunday. The USTA and Tennis Australia have a reciprocal agreement in which wild card entries into the main draw at the 2008 US Open and 2009 Australian Open are exchanged.

Eight players are scheduled to compete for the women’s wild card: Lauren Albanese, 19, of Coral Springs, Fla.; Madison Brengle, 18, of Dover, Del.; Gail Brodsky, 17, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Mallory Cecil, 18, of Spartanburg, S.C.; Vania King, 19, of Long Beach, Calif.; Christina McHale, 16, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; Asia Muhammad, 17, of Henderson, Nev.; and CoCo Vandeweghe, 17, of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. The field is divided into two round robin groups.

Four players will compete for the men’s wild card: John Isner, 23, of Tampa, Fla.; Jesse Levine, 21, of Boca Raton, Fla.; Wayne Odesnik, 23, of Weston, Fla.; and Donald Young, 19, of Atlanta.

The women will be divided into two, four-player round robin groups. The winners from each group will play each other Thursday to determine the wild card. The men’s playoff is also a round robin format.

Posted on December 16, 2008
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