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September 4, 2020,
Summer does turn to fall.
We can count on that.
That is why we love September. The weather starts to cool and calm down and the tennis courts are an ideal place for fun and exercise.
Something else that we can count on is, at the US Open, there will always be new stars emerging and this year is no different.
Here are a few of the American’s making a name for themselves at the Open.
Madison Brengle’s biggest success occurred in early 2015, reaching her first WTA Tour final in January, followed by a fourth round Grand-Slam appearance at the Australian Open.
In May, her singles ranking reached a career-best of No. 35 in the world. Her greatest victory so far was in 2017 over world No. 2, Serena Williams. She has won one WTA 125K series singles title, 15 ITF singles titles, and seven ITF doubles titles.
In August 2007, she was ranked fourth in the world in juniors.
Madison has toiled, often in obscurity, for years in the ITF Women’s Circuit. Over the course of 24 consecutive majors between 2008 and 2014, she failed to make it out of the pre-tournament qualifier. The streak ended when she earned a wild card for the 2014 US Open main draw, which she capitalized on for her first major match-win.
Her ranking soon rose into the top 100 for the first time.
As of this September 2, 2020 writing she has made it to the third round of the 2020 US Open by defeating Arina Rodionova 6-2 6-2 and Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-3.
Very impressive.
Ann Li was the runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Junior Championships. Evidence, that soon, she would be ready for the big leagues.
At the 2020 Australian Open, Li advanced to the main draw of a grand slam tournament for the first time after winning all of her qualifying matches. Li advanced to the second round, where she lost to the eventual champion Sofia Kenin.
Now she is really making her move.
Here, at the 2020 US Open she has defeated fellow American Alison Riske 6-0, 6-3 to reach the third round. Keep up the great work Ann.
The excitement surrounding the next American player has the tennis world buzzing.
Shelby Rogers is from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
She won the Girls National Championship at 17. Her best result as a professional came at the 2016 French Open where she reached the quarterfinals.
She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 48, while her highest doubles ranking is No. 101. She has won 6 singles titles and 2 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
Her victories against the top ranking players include Simona Halep (#4) at the 2017 Australian Open and Serena Williams (#9) at the 2020 Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky.
Now you can understand the buzz.
Shelby followed her sister, Sabra, into tennis at the age of six. She was quickly identified by her coaches for her natural athletic ability and started competing on the national stage by the age of eleven. Home-schooled during high school, our star was able to focus on her tennis and quickly started receiving scholarship offers from the top schools in the United States.
She was at a crossroads and had a big decision to make.
In 2009, she decided to forgo college and become a professional tennis player.
That took guts. Sometimes a decision like that doesn’t pay off and that scholarship is gone.
It is paying off for Shelby.
In 2010, Shelby won the USTA 18s Girls National Championship to earn a wildcard into the US Open, her first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.
Shelby earned another wild card into the main draw of the 2013 French Open three years later by winning the “Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge”. With the wild card, she won her first career Grand Slam match over Irena Pavlovic.
Bravo. Well done.
In 2015 Shelby played in all four Grand Slam main-draws for the first time in her career, reaching the third round at the US Open.
Well, here we go again. Shelby is back in the third round of the US Open once more. We look forward to her taking on fellow American Madison Brengle in the third round.
Should be a classic.
Then there is Sachia Vickery who made it into the second round at this year’s Open.
Sachia Vickery first entered the top 100 in 2018 and eventually reached a career-high of No. 73 in the world in the WTA rankings.
Her best results on the WTA Tour came at the 2018 Auckland Open and the 2018 Monterrey Open, where she reached the semifinals. Ms. Vickery, a former USTA junior national champion, has also won three singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women’s Circuit.
An honorable mention is the 16 year old sensation Katrina Scott.
A product of Woodland Hills, California, Katrina Scott, in 2019 and already 5’11 as a 15 year old, Scott reached the quarter-finals as a wildcard of the junior US Open.
In September of 2019, Ms. Scott with Robin Montgomery and Connie Ma won the Junior Federation Cup, the United States third consecutive win.
Katrina made her senior Grand Slam debut at this year’s 2020 US Open as a wildcard.
In a great triumph, Katrina defeated Natalia Vikhlyantseva in straight sets to win her first round match, and took a set off Amanda Anisimova before losing her second-round match.
We look forward to Katrina’s progress.
Due to the pandemic, many of the top stars decided not to play at this year’s Open. We feel that is a mistake. You only get so many of these opportunities and if the USTA takes all of the proper precautions, it is worth the risk.
Having said that, there still are an abundance of big time players who are here and making waves.
At this point Naomi Osaka is ascending. Serena Williams is always tough and when she is hot, unstoppable. Never underestimate her.
The number fourth ranked American Sofia Kenin is mentally tough as nails and as talented as the top players who are there and those who stayed home. Sofia could be a sleeper to win it all this year. We were so impressed at how she can completely emotionally dismantle and frustrate some of the most talented women on the tour. We have seen that more than once.
Though yet to win a grand slam, American Madison Keyes is very capable of hoisting the trophy at the end.
Madison has played in one Grand Slam tournament final at the 2017 US Open, and also competed at the 2016 WTA Finals. She has won five WTA tournaments, all at the Premier level. Her biggest title came at the 2019 Cincinnati Open, a Premier 5 event.
Her opponent in the 2017 US Open finals was fellow American Sloane Stephens.
The question about the incredibly talented and hard hitting, but admittedly inconsistent Sloane is, which person is going to show up? The accurate and hard hitting version of Sloane could be a sustaining force to the finals once again.
Thus far, the champion version of Sloane has made it to the 2020 third round. As she has already proven, she is capable of winning the US Open.
Trust us. This is a very talented and top level field. There should be no asterisks on this tournament. Even in normal non-pandemic times, for one reason or another, some of the top players are not there.
As far as this year’s women’s competition at the 2020 US Open, we are all in. Thus far it has been a blast.
If you’ve enjoyed their breakthroughs, more power to you.
More power to them.
More power is on the menu.
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OPENING PHOTO grapplingstars.com, femcompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com articles, USOpen.org-photo-credit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Brengle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Li_(tennis)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Rogers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Keys
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katrina_Scott
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
