The 16 US Open National Playoffs Sectional Qualifying Tournaments concluded July 6 with the USTA Southern Sectional Qualifying Tournament in Alpharetta, Ga. With that, 16 men, 16 women and 16 mixed doubles teams have qualified for the 2011 US Open National Playoffs Championships, to be held in conjunction with the New Haven Open at Yale, an Olympus US Open Series women’s event in August.
The US Open National Playoffs – Men’s and Women’s Singles Championships took place August 18-21, with the winners, Blake Strode and Robin Anderson, earning wild cards into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, held the week prior to the US Open. The US Open National Playoffs – Mixed Doubles Championship took place August 24-27, with the winners, Christina Fusano and David Martin, receiving a mixed doubles main draw wild card into the 2011 US Open.
In all, 1,380 participants competed in 2011—1,223 unique players as some competed in both singles and doubles—including 690 in the men’s singles, 306 in the women’s singles and 384 in mixed doubles.
Among those advancing to the US Open National Playoffs Championships were 2010 men’s champion Blake Strode, who successfully defended his title, 2010 men’s runner-up and former NCAA champion Cecil Mamiit, former Top 50 players Mashona Washington and Vasilisa Bardina, Canadian Fed Cup player Marie-Eve Pelletier, former NCAA champion Bea Bielik, former Top 40 doubles player David Martin, two-time Grand Slam doubles champion Ellis Ferreira and the mixed doubles tandem of Patricia Tarabini and Jeff Tarango, both former Top 50 singles players and Top 15 doubles players.
***
2011 US OPEN NATIONAL PLAYOFFS CHAMPIONSHIPS QUALIFIERS – BY THE NUMBERS:
1 --- Defending champions still alive in the US Open National Playoffs (Blake Strode)
2 --- Sectional qualifier winners who have reached the doubles final in a Grand Slam doubles draw (Jeff Tarango as the 1999 French Open men’s doubles finalist, Ellis Ferreira as the 2000 Australian Open men’s doubles champion and the 2001 Australian Open mixed doubles champion)
3 --- Number of NCAA champions who have qualified for the 2011 US Open National Playoffs Championships (Cecil Mamiit in 1996, men’s; Bea Bielik in 2002, Amanda McDowell in 2008, women’s)
3 --- Women who qualified for both the 2010 and 2011 US Open National Playoffs – Women’s Championship (Maureen Diaz, Megan Falcon, Romana Tedjakusuma)
5 --- Sectional qualifier winners who have at one time ranked in the Top 100 in singles (Vasilisa Bardina, Mamiit, Patricia Tarabini, Tarango, Mashona Washington)
6 --- Men who qualified for both the 2010 and 2011 US Open National Playoffs – Men’s Championship (Tony Larson, Mamiit, Angelo Niculescu, Eric Quigley, Strode, Chris Wettengel)
8 --- Sectional qualifier winners who qualified for the US Open National Playoffs Championships in both singles and mixed doubles (Diaz, Nathan Healey, David Martin, Skylar Morton, Marie-Eve Pelletier, Strode, Aleksandar Vlaski)
8 --- Sectional qualifier winners who have ranked in the Top 100 in doubles (Ferreira, Christina Fusano, Healey, Martin, Pelletier, Tarabini, Tarango, Washington)
12 --- Teenagers who qualified for the 2011 US Open National Playoffs Championships (Harrison Adams, Samantha Adams, Robin Anderson, Veronica Corning, Caroline Dailey, Sam Harrison, Nicole Melichar, Morton, Sandy Niehaus, Amanda Rodgers, Jackson Withrow)
13 --- Sectional qualifier winners over the age of 30 who qualified for the 2011 US Open National Playoffs Championships (Erik Donley, Healey, Miika Keronen, Mamiit, David Mullins, Erik Nelson-Kortland, Yana Ruegsegger, Tarabini, Taranago, Tedjakusuma, Washington)