By Tennis Now | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, May 30, 2024
NCAA champions have secured spots in the 2024 US Open.
NCAA Division I women's singles champion Alexa Noel and men's doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy will receive main-draw wild cards into those respective events at the 2024 US Open.
Additionally, Michael Zheng, who reached the men’s singles final, will receive a wild card into qualifying.
The 2024 US Open will be held over three weeks from August 19 through September 8.
Noel (21; Summit, N.J.) defeated Georgia’s Anastasiia Lopata, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the women’s singles final to become the third University of Miami player to win the NCAA women’s singles title.
The redshirt junior was the tournament’s No. 8 seed and knocked off the No 1-ranked player in the semifinals. She’ll be returning to the US Open for the first time since 2019 when she received a wild card into the women’s doubles main draw as the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s doubles champion and competed in the US Open Junior Championships.
Cash (23; New Albany, Ohio) and Tracy (21; Hilton Head, S.C.) defeated Florida State’s Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc and Joshua Dous-Karpenschif in the men’s doubles final, winning the decisive match tiebreak to give Ohio State its second consecutive men’s doubles national title.
Cash and Tracy were one of the top-ranked doubles teams in the country throughout the season, and helped lead the Buckeyes to a 34-2 record and an appearance in the semifinals of the NCAA team championships.
Zheng (20; Montville, N.J.) fell in the men’s singles final against Alabama’s Filip Planinsek in three sets. The Columbia sophomore last competed at the US Open in 2022 as a junior.
“The pathway from college to professional tennis is as strong as ever, and these wild cards reflect the USTA’s continued commitment to supporting our top-performing American collegians at the NCAA Division I level," said USTA Player Development GM Martin Blackman.
Currently there are six American former NCAA singles champions ranked in the ATP and WTA Top 100: Danielle Collins (Virginia; 2014, 2016), Marcos Giron (UCLA; 2014), Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA; 2016), Emma Navarro (Virginia, 2021), Ben Shelton (Florida; 2022), and Peyton Stearns (Texas; 2022).
Photo credit: Miami Athletics