WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATIONMATCH NOTES

TALE OF THE TAPE

FLUSHING MEADOWS, NEW YORK | AUGUST 26 - SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 | $57,238,700 GRAND SLAM TOURNAMENT

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WTA Communications: Estelle LaPorte, Catherine Sneddon, Chase Altieri (caltieri@wtatennis.com)

US OPEN - ROUND OF 16 TOP HALF

[1] NAOMI OSAKA (JPN #1) VS. [13] BELINDA BENCIC (SUI #12)

Bencic leads 2-1 Osaka is bidding to become the first woman to defend the title in New York since Serena won three in a row from 2012-14...Bencic has posted more victories over Top 5 (five) and Top 10 (eight) players than anyone

else on tour in 2019

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[Q] TAYLOR TOWNSEND (USA #116) vs. [15] BIANCA ANDREESCU (CAN #15)

First meeting Townsend is the 11th qualifier to reach the R16 at the US Open in the Open Era and is aiming to be the first to advance to the QF stage since Kaia Kanepi did so in 2017...Andreescu is 5-0 against left-handed players in 2019, and is looking to become the first Canadian woman to reach the QF of a major since Bouchard at

2015 AO

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WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATIONMATCH NOTES

FLUSHING MEADOWS, NEW YORK | AUGUST 26 - SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 | $57,238,700 GRAND SLAM TOURNAMENT

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WTA Communications: Estelle LaPorte, Catherine Sneddon, Chase Altieri (caltieri@wtatennis.com)

US OPEN - ROUND OF 16 TOP HALF

TALE OF THE TAPE

[23] DONNA VEKIC (CRO #23) vs. [26] JULIA GOERGES (GER #30)

Goerges leads 3-0 Vekic is looking to reach her maiden Grand Slam QF and also become the first Croatian woman to appear at this stage in New York since Konjuh in 2016...Goerges is aiming to reach her first career major QF on

hardcourts and second overall after 2018 Wimbledon (SF, l. S.Williams)

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[WC] KRISTIE AHN (USA #141) vs. [25] ELISE MERTENS (BEL #26)

Series tied 2-2 Ahn is the first wildcard to reach R16 at US Open since Sharapova in 2017 and would be the first to

advance to QF stage since Clijsters when she won the title in 2009...Mertens is looking to improve 1-3 record in R16 matches, having only advanced past this stage during breakthrough run to SF at 2018

Australian Open

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WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATIONMATCH NOTES

Up to this stage of the 2019 US Open, this is where the race for WTA World No.1 sits...

With both Ashleigh Barty and Karolina Pliskova bowing out today in the Round of 16, Naomi Osaka controls her own destiny in order to retain the top spot:

Osaka now needs to win the title in order to remain World No.1. Otherwise, Barty will climb back up to the top of the rankings.

Additionally, Stephens will drop out of the Top 10 after the US Open

Andreescu has a chance to make her Top 10 debut after New York, along with Q.Wang.

Taylor Townsend will climb into the Top 85 by reaching the Round of 16 and could go as high as No.65 with a visit to the quarterfinals.

BATTLE FOR NO.1 BIG STAGE PLAYERS This season’s Grand Slam season has seen a strong consistency amongst players returning to the latter stages of majors.

Below is a look-in at the most consistent WTA players in the form of most major wins in 2019:

Most wins at Slams in 2019* 17 Barty (fell in R16) 16 Serena (thru to QF)15 Halep (fell in 2r) 14 Konta (thru to QF)13 Ka.Pliskova (fell in R16) 13 Svitolina (plays tonight vs. Keys)

*Updated with 2019 US Open results

September 2, 1971 - Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors win their first US Open singles matches. Playing in her first US Open, the 16-year-old Evert wins the first of her record 101 US Open match victories, defeating Edda Buding 6-1, 6-0 in 42 minutes. Playing on his 19th birth-day, Connors comes back from a two-set deficit to defeat Alex Olmedo 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.

ON THIS DAY...

AHN ANOTHER LEVEL American Wildcard Kristie Ahn made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2008 US Open. Since then, she has been unable to get past the first round hurdle of each major she has contested.

Therefore, her first round win this fortnight marked Ahn’s first-ever victory at the Slam level.

Having said that, Ahn has the largest gap between Grand Slam main draw debut and first Grand Slam main draw match win in Open Era history.

Additionally, she is the first Asian-American woman to make the Round of 16 at a Slam since Osterloh at the 2000 US Open.

Based on her results this week, the young American will make her Top 100 debut and could climb as high as Top 75 with a QF visit.

IN GOOD COMPANY With Johanna Konta’s R16 victory over Karolina Pliskova, she becomes the 14th active player to have reached the QF stage at all four Grand Slams. Tonight, Elina Svitolina will also have a chance to join this distin-guished club with a victory over Madison Keys:

NAME AO RG W US TtlSerena 12 10 14 15 51Venus 9 5 13 12 39Sharapova 8 9 5 3 25Azarenka 5 3 4 4 16Kuznetsova 3 7 4 2 16Halep 3 4 4 2 13Kvitova 3 1 5 2 11Kerber 2 2 4 2 10Cibulkova 2 2 3 1 8Keys 2 2 1 2 7Konta 2 1 2 1 6Stephens 1 2 1 2 6Zvonareva 2 1 1 2 6Svitolina 2 2 1 ? 5Pavylchenkova 2 1 1 1 5

WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATIONMATCH NOTES

With Serena Williams’ Round of 16 win over Petra Martic, she eclipsed her 99th career victory at the US Open - a personal best win total record for her across the Slams, bettering her success at Wimbledon (98):

A QF win would consequently put her at the centenial mark of 100 match wins at the US Open. Just one win off tying the all-time US Open wins record held by Chris Evert (101):

US OPEN MOST WINS ALL-TIME 101 Chris Evert >99 Serena Williams 89 Martina Navratilova 79 Venus Williams* 73 Stefanie Graf *Venus includes R128 win at USO19 >Serena’s 99 wins equals most at a Slam for her (also Wimbledon)

CHASING HISTORY

SLAMMIN’ SUCCESS Since 1968 Roland Garros, 50 women have won at least one Grand Slam title (29 have gone on to win more).

Of these 50, 11 first-time champions have come at the US Open, with three first-time winners coming from the last three years (2018 – Osaka, 2017 – Stephens, and 2015 – Pennetta).

The last 10 Grand Slams have produced six first-time winners: (2019 Roland Garros – Barty, 2018 US Open – Osaka, 2018 Roland Garros – Halep, 2018 Australian Open – Wozniacki, 2017 US Open – Stephens, 2017 Roland Garros – Ostapenko).

A TELLING TREND... Serena Williams has lost in the US Open final on three occasions including 2018 agianst Naomi Osaka (also 2001, 2011) - each previous time she lost in the final she would then go on to win the title the following year (2002, 2012)

SPREADING THE LOVE Through the first three Slams of 2019, there have been three different champions: Naomi Osaka (Australian Open), Ashleigh Barty (Roland Garros) and Simona Ha-lep (Wimbledon). With Halep and Barty already eliminat-ed from this year’s championship, if Osaka fails to defend her US Open title this means there will be four different Grand Slam champions in the same season for the third year in a row.

This would be only the fifth time in the Open Era that there have been four different Slam winners in a season in consecutive years - also 1977-78, 1998-99, 2004-05 and 2017-18.

Should this take place, it would mark the first time ever in the Open Era that there would be four different Slam winners in a season in three consecutive years (2017-19?).

GOING THE DISTANCE This year’s Round of 16 had a strong representation from the players on tour who have the most wins in three-set matches this season.

Below is the three-set match wins Top 10 list, with 7 out of the Top 10 having advanced to the Round of 16 in New York this year:

1. Pliskova – 17-11 (60.7%) 2. Bencic – 16-7 (69.6%) 3. Konta – 15-3 (83.3%) 4. Osaka – 14-3 (82.4%) 5. Halep – 14-7 (66.7%) 6. Kenin – 13-9 (59.1%) 7. Martic – 13-2 (86.7%) 8. Andreescu – 12-3 (80%) 9. Barty – 12-4 (75%) 10. Hsieh – 12-8 (60%)

WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATIONMATCH NOTES

THE ELITE EIGHT Throughout her career, Serena Williams has advanced to the QF or better at 71.2% of the Slams she has played; the next best QF strike rate belongs to Venus Williams (46.4%) and Maria Sharapova (43.9%).

The following players are bidding to reach just their first Grand Slam quarterfinal:

Kristie Ahn - Playing first Grand Slam R16; won first Slam main draw match this week

Bianca Andreescu - 2019 US Open is best result, play-ing 4th Slam; reached 2r at 2019 Australian Open and 2019 Roland Garros

Taylor Townsend - 2019 US Open is best career Slam result; reached 3r at 2014 Roland Garros

Donna Vekic - Equals previous best result at Slam by reaching R16; also 2018 Wimbledon (R16), 2019 Roland Garros (R16)

THE SWEET 16 Entering the Round of 16, here’s a quick hit breakdown for the 2019 women’s draw:

Country Breakdown

A total of 12 different countries represented in the R16 at the US Open, led by USA with 4 players and Croatia with two players. The other 10 nations have one representa-tive: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Switzerland and Ukraine.

Youngest & Oldest

The average age of the final 16 players in the draw is 25.38 years old. That is the youngest average age for the R16 at the US Open since 2012 (25.00 years old).Bianca Andreescu (19 years, 115 days) is the youngest player remaining in the draw, followed by Naomi Osaka (21 years, 326 days) and Belinda Bencic (22 years, 181 days).

Serena Williams (37 years, 346 days), Julia Goerges (30 years, 309 days) and Petra Martic (28 years, 231 days) are the oldest players remaining.

Seed Breakdown

14 of the 16 remaining players are seeds, the most to reach the R16 of a Slam since 2014 Australian Open and most to reach the R16 at the US Open since 2005.The last time all eight quarterfinalists were seeds at a Slam was at 2014 Australian Open and the last time all eight quarterfinalists were seeds at the US Open was in 2012.

VSNAOMIOSAKA

BELINDA BENCIC

US OPEN

• Contesting milestone 20th Grand Slam main draw at 2019 US Open

• Achieved best Grand Slam singles result when she advanced to QF at 2014 US Open; defeated two Top 10 players en route (No.7 Kerber in 3r, No.10 Jankovic in R16)

• Best result at Australian Open came in 2016, when she advanced to R16 (l. Sharapova)

• At Wimbledon, also advanced to R16 in 2015 (l. Aza-renka) and 2018 (l. eventual champion Kerber)

• Best result at Roland Garros is 3r in 2019 (l. Vekic)

• Making fourth appearance at Flushing Meadows• Her best result here - and across all majors - was

reaching QF on debut in 2014 (d. No.7 Kerber and No.10 Jankovic, l. S.Peng)

• At 17 years of age, 2014’s run saw her become youngest player through to last eight at Flushing Meadows since 1997 when Hingis won the title

• Also advanced to 3r in 2015 (l. V.Williams) and 2016 (l. Konta)

• Contesting her 20th Grand Slam this fortnight, where she is seeded for a 10th time

• Defeated No.142 Minella in 1r on Tuesday before ousting Cornet in 2r in their first meeting in four years

• Win over Cornet marked her 16th three-set victory in 2019 - only Ka.Pliskova has won more (17)

• Advanced to R16 by walkover after Kontaveit with-drew due to viral illness

• Overall Grand Slam win-loss record stands at 32-19• Faces No.1 Osaka today attempting to reach QF for

first time at a major since 2014 US Open• Won their two previous meetings this year at Indian

Wells R16 and Madrid QF• Owns 3-1 record over reigning No.1s - including the

two victories over Osaka this year, also beat S.Wil-liams in 2015 Toronto semifinal and would go on to win second singles title of her career. Sole loss to No.1 came against S.Williams in 2014 Madrid 1r

• Sole Swiss woman to reach R16 this fortnight from four to have started in the main draw (also Bacsinsz-ky, Golubic and Teichmann)

• Ranked No.12 heading into 2019 US Open; by con-trast, 12 months ago was No.38

• Owns 39-15 win-loss record in 2019 - the fifth-most wins on tour; by contrast won a total of 17 matches at this level across 2017 and 2018 seasons combined

• Has posted more victories over Top 5 (five) and Top 10 (eight) players than anyone else on Tour in 2019

• Highlights of last year’s summer hard court season, were QF runs at Washington, DC (l. Petkovic) and New Haven (as LL, l. eventual champion Sabalenka)

• Making fourth main draw appearance at US Open, as the defending champion – defeated No.17 seed S.Williams in last year’s final. Run to title also in-cluded wins over No.26 seed Sabalenka (R16) and No.14 seed Keys (SF)

• Was the first Japanese woman to reach a Grand Slam final and the youngest US Open champion since Sharapova in 2006

• Bidding to become the first woman to defend the title in New York since Serena won three in a row from 2012-14

• Reached 3r on main draw debut here in 2016 (l. Keys) and again in 2017 (l. Kanepi); also fell in 2r of qualifying in 2015 (l. Konta)

• Top seed at a Grand Slam for second time in career – also 2019 Roland Garros (l. Siniakova in 3r)

• Won her 14th three-set match of 2019 over Blinkova in 1r on Tuesday (14-3 record) - tied with Halep and Konta, and behind Ka.Pliskova and Bencic (16)

• Defeated Linette in 2r for the second time in 2019 (also in 1r of title run at this year’s Australian Open)

• Defeated teen phenom Coco Gauff in 3r to reach the second week of a major for first since winning Australian Open earlier this year

• Grand Slam win-loss record now stands at 37-12• Faces No.12 Bencic in R16 today for third time this

year• Owns 5-2 record against Top 20 opponents this year

- lost to No.18 Bencic in Madrid and No.8 S.Wiliams in Toronto

• Record in Grand Slam R16 matches stands at 2-1; last lost at this stage in 2018 Australian Open (l. No.1 Halep)

• Both times she has reached QF in a major, has gone on to win the title

• Coming off back-to-back QF at Toronto (l. S.Williams) and Cincinnati (ret. vs. Kenin in third set w/left knee injury) – one of just three players to go that deep at both events (also Kenin and Ka.Pliskova)

• Reclaimed No.1 ranking from Barty the week of Cincinnati and will hold the top spot through the US Open fortnight, taking total weeks at No.1 to 25. Leads No.2 Barty by only 105 points and must defend the title in order to have a chance of holding on to top spot

• Has struck 274 aces across 38 matches (including wins here) in 2019, the fourth-most on tour

• Last summer on hard courts, reached 2r at Washing-ton, DC and fell 1r at Montreal and Cincinnati before going on to win her maiden major at US Open

• All three career singles titles have been won on hard courts – 2018 Indian Wells, 2018 US Open, 2019 Australian Open

GRAND SLAM HISTORY

US OPEN

VSNAOMIOSAKA

BELINDA BENCIC

• Posted fourth Top 100 season finish in 2018, at No.37; highlight was R-Up finish at Luxembourg (as qualifier, l. Goerges)

• Underwent left wrist surgery in spring 2017, missing five months – ranking fell outside Top 300

• Closed out 2017 season by winning 28 of 31 match-es and four titles, two on the ITF Circuit and two WTA 125K Series events at Hua Hin and Taipei. By the end of the year she was back in the Top 75

• Best wins of career came over No.1 S.Williams in SF at 2015 Toronto and No.1 Osaka in R16 at 2019 Indian Wells and QF at 2019 Madrid

• Reached QF at Toronto (l. S.Williams), securing her return to No.1, and also at Cincinnati (ret. vs. Kenin w/left knee injury)

• Lost to Putintseva on both grass court appearances, in 2r at Birmingham and 1r at Wimbledon

• Made 3r exit at Roland Garros (l. Siniakova)• Posted QF showing at Rome – withdrew prior to

match vs. Bertens w/right hand injury• Rome marked third consecutive clay court QF, after

SF at Stuttgart (withdrew prior to match against Kontaveit w/abdominal injury) and QF in Madrid (l. Bencic, having led 5-3 in third set)

• At 2h 35m, 2r win over Sorribes Tormo at Madrid was the longest match of her career – previous longest was 2h 33m win over S.Zhang at 2018 Beijing

• Made 3r exit at Miami – l. Hsieh in three sets• Posted R16 finish at Indian Wells (l. Bencic) as de-

fending champion for the first time in her career• Made 2r exit at Dubai (l. Mladenovic) in what was

her first match since defeating Kvitova in Australian Open final; withdrew from Doha w/back injury

• Won second major title at Australian Open (d. Kvi-tova in F); became first Japanese player to reach World No.1 ranking following the tournament

• Opened 2019 season with SF run at Brisbane (l. eventual R-Up Tsurenko). Withdrew from Sydney citing a change in schedule

• 2019 US Open marks 15th main draw appearance at a Grand Slam (36-12 record)

• Two-time major winner, at 2018 US Open (d. S.Wil-liams in F) and 2019 Australian Open (d. Kvitova in F)

• Is the first woman to win her second major straight after winning her first since Capriati did so in 2001 (Australian Open followed by Roland Garros)

• Won 2019 Australian Open on only her third appear-ance, becoming the 10th woman to win the US Open and Australian Open back-to-back

• In reaching R16 at 2018 Australian Open, became youngest Japanese player to reach R16 at a Slam since Sugiyama at 1995 Roland Garros (19y, 342d) and the youngest player from Japan to reach R16 in Melbourne since Date in 1990 (197, 122d)

• Has reached 3r at the other two majors: Roland Garros in 2016 (l. Halep), 2018 (l. Keys) and 2019 (l. Siniakova), and Wimbledon in 2017 (l. V.Williams) and 2018 (l. Kerber)

CAREER MILESTONES

SEASON

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• So far during this year’s US Open Series, made R16

run at Toronto (l. Svitolina) and fell 1r at Cincinnati (ret. vs. Azarenka w/left foot injury)

• Posted 3r showing at Wimbledon (l. Riske) after falling 2r at Eastbourne (l. Alexandrova)

• Was R-Up at Mallorca (l. Kenin after holding 3mp at 5-4 in second set); upset No.6 Kerber en route

• Clay season ended with 2r exit at Rome (l. Mlade-novic) and 3r showing at Roland Garros (l. Vekic)

• Posted SF run at Madrid (l. Halep); victory over Osaka in QF improved record over reigning No.1s to 3-1 (also S.Williams at 2015 Toronto and Osaka at 2019 Indian Wells, with only loss against S.Williams at 2014 Madrid)

• Posted 2r exit at Stuttgart (l. Bertens)• Fell in 1r at Lugano (l. Lottner) but reached SF in

doubles (w/Kuzmova, l. Kudermetova/Voskoboeva)• Advanced to QF stage at Charleston (l. Martic)• Made 2r exit at Miami (after 1r bye, l. Putintseva)• Reached SF at Indian Wells (d. No.1 Osaka, No.5

Ka.Pliskova, l. Kerber)• Loss to Kerber ended 12-match winning streak –

having won two Fed Cup singles rubbers (d. Errani, Giorgi), six wins en route to the Dubai title, four matches at Indian Wells

• Lifted third singles title of career at 2019 Dubai (d. Kvitova in F), her first since 2015 Toronto; defeated four Top 10 opponents en route to title, in succession No.8 Sabalenka R16), No.3 Halep (QF), No.6 Svitoli-na (SF) and No.4 Kvitova (F)

• Inspired Switzerland to 3-1 World Group II win over Italy in Biel (d. Giorgi and Errani)

• Fell in qualifying at St Petersburg• Reached SF at Hobart (l. Schmiedlova) and ad-

vanced to 3r at Australian Open (l. Kvitova)• Opened 2019 season at Hopman Cup, partnering

Roger Federer to help Switzerland retain the trophy

SEASON

VSNAOMIOSAKA

BELINDA BENCIC

• In February hired Jermaine Jenkins, former hitting partner of Venus Williams, as her new head coach having parted company with Sascha Bajin

• Also in her team are Stuart Duguid (agent) and Abdul Sillah (fitness trainer)

• Was born in Osaka, Japan, and moved to USA when she was three years old; holds dual citizenship

• Posted a 40-20 record in 2018, resulting in best year end finish of career at No.5 (first Top 10 season), up from No.68 in 2017

• Won the first two titles of her career in 2018, at Indi-an Wells (d. Kasatkina in F) and debut Grand Slam crown at US Open (d. S.Williams in F)

• Reached one further final, at Tokyo [PPO] (l. Ka.Plis-kova). Record in finals stands at 3-2, having also finished as R-Up at 2016 Tokyo [PPO] (l. Wozniacki)

• From her efforts in New York last September, passed USD $5 million in prize money for the season – No.2 (behind Halep) on the 2018 list of top earners

• En route to the Indian Wells title, defeated five-time major champion Sharapova, and A.Radwanska, Ka.Pliskova and Halep. Only set dropped all fortnight was against Sakkari in R16

• After win over Halep at 2018 Indian Wells, owns a 1-3 record against reigning No.1s (also lost to Ka.Pliskova at 2017 Toronto and Halep at 2018 Aus-tralian Open and 2018 Rome)

• Other Grand Slam results in 2018 included reaching R16 at Australian Open (l. eventual R-Up Halep), 3r at Roland Garros (l. Keys) and 3r at Wimbledon (l. eventual champion Kerber). Elsewhere, had SF runs at Nottingham (l. champion Barty) and Beijing (l. Sev-astova), and fell in group stage on WTA Finals debut

• Book-ended 2017 season with QF showings at Auckland and Hong Kong; other highlights included 3r runs at Wimbledon and US Open

• Scored first Top 5 win of career when she defeated No.5 V.Williams at 2017 Hong Kong. Upset win over defending champion and No.6-ranked Kerber at 2017 US Open marked first career Top 10 win

• Voted 2016 WTA Newcomer of the Year; highlight was career-first WTA final at Tokyo [PPO] (l. Wozni-acki). Also reached QF on three occasions and 3r at Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open

• Ranked No.406, made WTA main draw debut at 2014 Stanford. As an alternate, won through qualify-ing (achieving first WTA qualifying wins), and came from match point down to shock No.19 Stosur in 1r of main draw, before losing to No.18 Petkovic in 2r

• Made WTA qualifying debut at Québec City in 2013 (l. Dabrowski)

• Split from coach Vlado Platenik at the end of 2018; has worked extensively with Melanie Molitor and Martina Hingis, as well as her father, Ivan, in the past

• Fitness trainer is Martin Hromkovic, a former football player from Slovakia

• Also holds Slovak citizenship through her parents• Includes Nike, Yonex and Rolex among her sponsors

PERSONAL

CAREER MILESTONES

PERSONAL

• At 18 years of age in Toronto became youngest play-er to defeat S.Williams in a completed match since 2004 WTA Finals, when 17-year-old Sharapova d. Serena in F (Serena also lost at 2007 Charleston to then 17-year-old Chan Yung-Jan via first set retire-ment at 5-3)

• Struggled with injury in 2016 – advanced to sixth ca-reer singles final at St Petersburg in February (as top seed for first time in career, l. Vinci) but after Charles-ton (April) was sidelined for more than two months – missed most of clay season, including Roland Garros

• Run to St Petersburg final saw her break into Top 10 (at No.9) for the first time in her career; became 116th player to break into the Top 10 since comput-erized rankings were introduced in 1975. In the last 20 years, 11 players have made their Top 10 debut before their 19th birthday

• Reached a career-high ranking of No.7 (February 22, 2016)

• Appeared in four finals in 2015, winning first two career titles at Premier-level Eastbourne (d. A.Rad-wanska in F) and Toronto (d. Halep in F via ret.)

• At 2015 Eastbourne, aged 18 years, 109 days, became second-youngest player to win a WTA Pre-mier-level final. Caroline Wozniacki won 2008 New Haven aged 18 years, 43 days

• With 2015 Toronto triumph, became first teenager to win an event at Premier 5 level or higher since Azarenka at 2009 Miami

• Victory at 2019 Dubai improved record in career finals to 3-6; R-Up finishes came at 2014 Tianjin, 2015 ‘s-Hertogenbosch, 2015 Tokyo [PPO], 2016 St Petersburg, 2018 Luxembourg and 2019 Mallorca

• Won second WTA doubles title of career in 2015 at Washington, DC (w/Mladenovic), the first coming earlier in the year at Prague (w/Siniakova)

• Voted 2014 WTA Newcomer of the Year after rising 179 spots in the rankings to finish season at No.33

• Played first WTA qualifying event at Luxembourg in October 2011, and first WTA main draw 12 months later at same event as WC (l. V.Williams, 1r); only 15 years, 7 months at the time

CAREER CONT.

VSNAOMIOSAKA

BELINDA BENCIC

PERSONAL CONT.• Sponsorship deals include Nike, Citizen, broadcaster

Wowow, Nissin, Nissan and ANA Airlines• Her father, Leonard Max Francois, was born in Haiti

and attended college in New York City before moving to Japan where he lived for 13 years

• Mother, Tamaki, is Japanese. Older sister Mari also plays professional tennis

VSTAYLORTOWNSEND

BIANCAANDREESCU

US OPEN US OPEN

GRAND SLAM HISTORY

GRAND SLAM HISTORY

• Making fifth main draw appearance at US Open (eighth overall), where she is through to R16 for the first time at a Grand Slam

• Previous best result at Flushing Meadows was 2r showing in 2018 (d. Anisimova, l. Ostapenko)

• On main draw debut at here in 2014, fell in 1r to eventual champion S.Williams

• Successfully qualified to get into the main draw here for the second time (also in 2016, l. Wozniacki in 1r); in final round of qualifying was two points from defeat in second-set tie-break against Stojanovic

• Also recovered from a set down against No.76 Ko-zlova in 1r of main draw to score her first Top 100 win since upsetting No.15 Goerges (2019 Charleston)

• Saved 1mp to upset No.4 Halep in 2r and score the first Top 10 win of her career; previously only Top 20 triumph of career came over No.15 Goerges at 2019 Charleston

• Approached the net over 105 times against Halep, winning 63 of these points (including four in the deciding tie-break)

• Defeated another Romanian in 3r, ousting Cirstea in straight sets to reach her career first major R16; career record vs. Romanians now stands at 4-6

• Only previous venture to 3r at a major came on Grand Slam debut at 2014 Roland Garros (l. Suárez Navarro 6-2 6-2)

• One of four American women to reach R16 this fortnight - also Ahn, Keys and S.Williams - from a tournament-leading 23 in starting field

• Faces No.15 Andreescu today in their career first meeting. Scored first Top 20 wins of her career this season over No.15 Goerges (Charleston) and No.4 Halep (this week in Flushing Meadows); 2-15 overall

• Holds 1-0 record against Canadian opponents in 2019, having defeated Sebov en route to winning the title at $100K ITF/Charleston-USA (d. Osuigwe in F)

• Results this week have improved main draw win-loss record at the majors to 11-16

• Is the last qualifier left in the draw; at least one qual-ifier has reached R16 at Flushing Meadows in five of the past seven years (most recently Kanepi in 2017)

• US Open is first event contested since Wimbledon (which was her first event since Roland Garros

• Contesting 17th Grand Slam main draw at 2019 US Open, where she is through to the R16 for the first time at a major

• Presvious best result is 3r run at 2014 Roland Garros (l. Suárez Navarro); at 18 years, one month was the youngest woman to reach 3r in Paris since 2009 (Pavlyuchenkova)

• At US Open, made 2r in 2018 (l. Ostapenko), having

• Making main draw debut at US Open (third overall) where she is into R16 to record career best Grand Slam appearance

• Previous career bests occurred by reaching 2r at 2019 Australian Open (l. Sevastova) and 2019 Ro-land Garros (w/o Kenin w/ right shoulder injury)

• Fell during 1r of qualifying at Flushing Meadows in 2017 (l. Liu) and 2018 (l. Danilovic)

• Entered fortnight as the World No.15 and highest ranked teenager on tour

• At 19-years-old, is the sole teenager into the R16 out of nine who started the draw

• Saved four of five break points faced in straight set win over wildcard American Katie Volynets in 1r

• Struck 27 winners and six aces to defeat No.110 Flip-kens and advance to 3r at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career

• Recorded 10th Top 20 win of 2019 over No.19 Wozniacki in 3r (10-3 season record). Losses came to No.14 Goerges (Auckland), No.12 Sevastova (Australian Open) and No.19 Kontaveit (Miami)

• Is 7-0 vs. Top 10 players in her career, all achieved in 2019 - defeated No.3 Wozniacki (Auckland), No.6 Svitolina and No.8 Kerber (both en route to Indian Wells title), No.4 Kerber (Miami) and No.5 Bertens, No.3 Ka.Pliskova and No.10 S.Williams due to ret.(en route to Toronto title)

• Faces No.116 Townsend today for a spot in the QF. A loss today would mark her worst-by-ranking since falling to No.682 McNally last November at $25K ITF/Lawrence-USA

• Owns 8-1 record vs. American opposition this sea-son, only falling to Kenin in the SF at Acapulco

• Holds 5-0 record against left-handed players in 2019, having defeated Rus (Fed Cup), Teichmann and Buzarnescu (both at Acapulco) and Kerber (at Indian Wells and Miami)

• The last Canadian woman into the R16 at Flushing Meadows - or any major - was Bouchard in 2015

• Holds 27 wins on hardcourts this season - the sec-ond-most on tour behind Ka.Pliskova (28)

• Has played 18 three-set matches in 2019 walking away victorious in 13

• Win over Bertens in Toronto was the single longest match on the WTA Tour this year at 3hrs 28min

• One of the tours’ leading returners, ranking No.4 in return points won (47.2%) and No.5 in return games won (42.9%) - additionally is No.7 in break points saved (60.7%)

• Recorded best Grand Slam result by advancing to R16 this fortnight at 2019 US Open

VSTAYLORTOWNSEND

BIANCAANDREESCU

CAREER MILESTONES• Posted best year-end finish at No.74 in 2018, up

from No.105 in 2017; reached career-high No.61 ranking on July 16, 2018

CAREER MILESTONES• Finished 2018 ranked No.178, winning fourth and

fifth career ITF Circuit titles at $25k ITF/Florence-SC, USA and $25k ITF/Norman-OK,USA

• Fell in qualifying at all four majors in 2018• Highlight of 2017 season was QF run at Washington

DC (l. Petkovic). As wildcard, defeated Giorgi and world No.13 Mladenovic in 2r to become first player born in 21st century to register a Top 20 win

• Also in 2017, made 2r at Quebec City and fell 1r at Wimbledon and Toronto

• Highlight of 2016 season was maiden ITF Circuit title at $25k ITF/Gatineau-CAN (d. Halbauer in F). Also won doubles at same tournament w/Robillard-Millette

SEASON• Entering US Open after second title of the season at

Toronto (d. S.Williams in F; ret. w/ upper back injury) • Shoulder injury forced her to miss entire grass swing• Returned to action at Roland Garros, winning 1r

match against Bouzkova before withdrawing prior to 2r vs. Kenin w/right shoulder injury

• Retired from R16 match at Miami against Kontaveit w/right shoulder injury, which forced her to miss much of subsequent clay court season

• Won maiden career title at Indian Wells (d. No.6 Svitolina in SF and No.8 Kerber in F)

• Was fourth unseeded woman and first wildcard to lift the title at Indian Wells

• Increased career prize money fivefold thanks to Indian Wells success (total stood at USD $350,909 entering the tournament)

• Made SF at Acapulco (l. Kenin)• Won both singles rubbers (d. Rus and Hogenkamp)

as Canada beat Netherlands 4-0 in Fed Cup to set up a World Group play-off with 2018 champions Czech Republic in April

• Lifted title at WTA 125K Series event at Newport Beach (d. Pegula in F)

• Qualified for Australian Open, going on to reach 2r for first time at a major (d. Osuigwe, l. Sevastova)

• Began 2019 by finishing R-Up at Auckland as a qual-ifier (d. Wozniacki, d. V.Williams, l. Goerges)

SEASON• Produced 2r showing at Wimbledon (l. Bertens) and

1r exit at Roland Garros (l. Muguruza) - led both matches by a set and held 1mp against Bertens

• Made QF run at $100K ITF/Bonita Springs, FL-USA (l. Osuigwe)

• Won 10th and biggest singles title of her career at $100K ITF/Charleston, SC-USA (d. Osuigwe in F); also lifted the doubles title in Charleston (w/Muham-mad, d. Brengle/Davis in F)

• Reached QF at $80K ITF/Charlottesville, VA-USA (l. Osuigwe) but captured doubles title (w/Muhammad, d. Hradecka/Kawa in F)

• Fell 1r at $80K ITF/Dothan, AL-USA (l. Karatantche-va) after R16 showing at the WTA Premier event at Charleston (l. Bencic)

• Scored career first Top 20 win over No.15 Goerges at Charleston. Also scored first back-to-back tour level wins since 3r run at 2017 Miami (d. Anisimova and Vinci, l. Kuznetsova)

• As a qualifier lost to Halep in 2r at Miami• Fell 1r at Indian Wells (l. Bonaventure); reached R16

at the WTA 125K Series event in Indian Wells (l. Gibbs) and advanced to doubles final (w/Wickmayer, l. Kr.Pliskova/Rodina)

• Advanced to QF at WTA 125K Series event at Newport Beach (l. Davis) in singles and runner-up in doubles (w/Wickmayer, l. Carter/Shibahara)

• Made 1r exit at Australian Open (l. Stephens)• Opened 2019 season with 1r exit in Auckland (l.

Strycova). R-Up in doubles (w/Hourigan, l. Bouchard/Kenin in F)

GRAND SLAM CONT.lost opening matches in 2014 (l. eventual cham-pion S.Williams), 2016 (as qualifier, l. Wozniacki) and 2017 (l. Bogdan). Fell in 2011, 2013 and 2015 qualifying

• On US Open debut in 2014, lost to World No.1 S.Wil-liams 6-3 6-1

• Made 2r at 2018 Wimbledon (l. Sasnovich) and 2019 (l. Bertens)

• Won both the girls’ singles and doubles titles at 2012 Australian Open, becoming first American to sweep both events at a junior Slam since Davenport in 1992. Reached 2013 Junior Wimbledon final (l. Bencic)

• Also won junior doubles title at 2012 Wimbledon (w/Bouchard) and 2012 US Open (w/Andrews)

GRAND SLAM CONT.• Previous best results were 2r showings at 2019 Aus-

tralian Open (as qualifier, d. Osuigwe, l. Sevastova) and Roland Garros (d. Bouzkova, w/o Kenin w/right shoulder injury)

• Only other main draw major appearance came as a qualifier at 2017 Wimbledon (l. Kucova)

• Also fell in qualifying at 2017 Roland Garros, 2017 US Open, 2018 Australian Open, 2018 Roland Gar-ros, 2018 Wimbledon and 2018 US Open

VSTAYLORTOWNSEND

BIANCAANDREESCU

PERSONAL• Coached by Sylvain Bruneau• Born in Mississauga, Ontario, but moved to her

parents’ native country of Romania as a child and started playing tennis at age seven

• On her return to Canada, at 11 joined Tennis Cana-da’s U14 National Training Centre in Toronto for the 2011–2012 season

• Models her game on Simona Halep

• Started playing right-handed for two years then switched to lefty

• Played violin for two years• Coached by Donald Young Sr.

PERSONAL

CAREER CONT.• First broke into the Top 100 the week of January 19,

2015 at No.99 • 2018 season highlights were winning her ninth ITF

singles title at $25k ITF/Sumter, SC-USA (d. Lim in F)

• Enjoyed more ITF success pre-2018 Roland Garros, highlighted by seventh and eighth career titles at $80K ITF/Dothan, AL-USA (d. Duque-Mariño in F) and $80K ITF/Charleston, SC-USA (d. Brengle in F)

• In 2018, won doubles title at WTA 125K Series Indian Wells w/Wickmayer (d. Brady/King in F)

• 2017 season highlight was 3r run at Miami after com-ing through qualifying. Upset No.30 Vinci in 2r before losing to No.7 Kuznetsova

• Also won three singles title on ITF Circuit in 2017, at $25K ITF/Sumter, SC-USA, $25K ITF/Florence, SC-USA and $80K ITF/Waco, TX-USA

• Made WTA main draw debut as wildcard at 2013 In-dian Wells; in first match posted career first Top 100 win over No.57 Hradecka

• Has reached two WTA doubles finals, finishing R-Up at 2013 Washington DC (w/Bouchard) and 2019 Auckland (w/Hourigan)

• Won the junior singles and doubles titles at 2012 Australian Open; became first American to hold year-end No.1 junior world ranking since Gretchen Rush in 1982

• Turned professional at end of 2012 season

CAREER CONT.• Career best wins occurred over No.3 Wozniacki at

2019 Auckland and No.3 Pliskova at 2019 Toronto • Posted career-high ranking of No.15 on August 12,

2019• Made professional debut by finishing R-Up at $25k

ITF/Gatineau-CAN (l. Glatch in F)• Owns five singles and three doubles titles on ITF

Circuit

VSDONNA VEKIC

JULIAGOERGES

US OPEN US OPEN• Making fourth main draw appearance at Flushing

Meadows (eighth overall), where she is through to R16 for the first time

• Previous best result here was reaching 3r in 2017 (l. Sevastova)

• Advanced to 2r in 2013 on main draw debut at Flush-ing Meadows (l. Halep)

• Fell 1r here last year (l. Sevastova) and in 2014 (l. Vandeweghe)

• Kicked off 2019 campaign by firing 36 winners to defeat Hogenkamp in 1r

• In 2r, broke serve five times to oust two-time US Open semifinalist Kanepi in straight sets

• Won an impressive 87% of her first service points in another straight-set win over Putintseva in 3r - is one of seven players to reach R16 without dropping a set (also Andreescu, Ahn, Mertens, Svitolina, Keys and Q.Wang)

• Results so far this fortnight have improved overall Grand Slam win-loss record to 21-24

• Faces Goerges in R16 today; lost to the German in straight sets in her first Grand Slam last 16 appear-ance, at 2018 Wimbledon

• Bidding to reach her maiden Grand Slam QF and also become the first Croatian woman to appear at this stage in New York since Konjuh in 2016

• In addition to 1r exit here, last year’s summer hard court results were a R-Up finish at Washington DC (l. Kuznetsova - held 4mp) and a qualifying exit at Cincinnati

• This time last year was ranked No.41; competing this week at No.23 – just one place off career high of No.22, set earlier this year

• Is seeded No.23 this fortnight - her fourth time among the 32 seeds at a major and first at US Open

• Currently occupies No.16 spot on the Porsche Race to Shenzhen, at No.16 GRAND SLAM HISTORY

• Contesting 46th consecutive major at 2019 US Open (and 47th in total), the third longest streak on tour (after Cornet - 52 and Pavlyuchenkova - 47)

• Posted best Grand Slam result at 2018 Wimbledon, where she reached SF (l. S.Williams)

• Previously had reached R16 – but never further – on five occasions, at Australian Open (2012-13 and 2015), Roland Garros (2015) and US Open (2017)

• Made main draw debut at 2007 US Open, as qualifi-er, lost to eventual champion Henin in 1r

• Contesting 25th Grand Slam main draw at 2019 US Open

• Deepest runs were to R16 at 2018 Wimbledon (l. Goerges), 2019 Roland Garros (l. Konta) and now 2019 US Open

• At Australian Open, reached 2r on four occasions, most recently in 2019

• Making 13th consecutive career main draw appear-ance in Flushing Meadows, where she is through to R16 for the second time

• Also reached this stage in 2017 – fell to eventual champion Stephens in 3s

• Made Grand Slam main draw debut at 2007 US Open, negotiating qualifying before losing to eventual champion Henin in 1r

• Seeded No.26 this fortnight - her ninth Slam in a row among the 32 seeds

• Hit 35 winners - including nine aces - and saved 1mp during 1r win over Vikhlyantseva this year

• Struck another 30 winners in the 2r, reeling off the last nine games unanswered against Di Lorenzo to register 50th Grand Slam main draw win (overall record 50-46)

• Upset No.7 Bertens in 3r; also beat the Dutchwoman en route to SF at 2018 Wimbledon

• Entering 2019 US Open, most recent Top 10 win came over No.6 Ka.Pliskova on Fed Cup duty in April 2018

• Faces Vekic in R16 today. Has won all three of their previous meetings, going on to reach at least the SF on each occasion: 2017 Budapest (SF), 2018 Wim-bledon (SF) and 2018 Luxembourg (WON)

• Owns 1-5 record in Grand Slam R16 matches• Has struck 221 aces this season - the seventh-most

on tour (Ka.Pliskova leads the way with 426). Head-ing into US Open, also ranked third for % first-serve points won with 72.6% (behind S.Williams - 74.3% and Ka.Pliskova - 73.5%)

• Has reached 10 career finals on hard courts, winning the past five, at Moscow and Zhuhai in 2017, Auck-land and Luxembourg in 2018, and Auckland in 2019

• Summer hard court season highlighted by SF run at San Jose (l. Sabalenka). Also made R16 at CIn-cinnati (l. V.Williams) and reached 2r at Toronto (d. Keys, l. Kuznetsova)

SEASON

GRAND SLAM HISTORY

SEASON• Fell early in both North American summer hard court

events, in 2r at Toronto (l. Bencic in 3s) and 1r at Cin-cinnati (l. Kenin)

VSDONNA VEKIC

JULIAGOERGES

CAREER MILESTONES• Ended 2018 at then-career-high ranking of No.34,

after registering a career-best 31 tour-level wins • 2018 season highlighted by R-Up finish at Washing-

ton, DC (l. Kuznetsova after holding 4mp) – her first finals appearance since winning 2017 Nottingham

• Also made SF showings at Nottingham and Tokyo [PPO] and reached Grand Slam R16 for first time at Wimbledon (l. Goerges)

• Enjoyed a resurgent year in 2017, cracking the Top 50 in the week of July 24 and finishing campaign ranked No.54

• Grass court season highlighted by winning second WTA singles title of career, at Nottingham – d. No.8 Konta. Until this title run, had not posted back-to-back main draw wins since September 2015 (run to final at Tashkent)

• Reached two ITF finals at the end of 2016 season, winning the title at $100k ITF/Sharm El Sheikh-EGY

• Posted just four main draw wins across 2016, defeat-ing Al Nabhani at Doha, Riske at Kaohsiung, Ivanovic at Cincinnati and Zhang at Tianjin

• Highlights in 2015 included reaching final at Tashkent (l.Hibino) and QF at Baku

SEASON CONT. SEASON CONT.

CAREER MILESTONES• Registered third year-end Top 20 finish in 2018,

at No.14 (also No.14 in 2017 and No.18 in 2012). Reached career-high No.9 on August 20, 2018

• 2018 highlights were titles at Auckland (d. Wozniacki in F) – extended title streak to three, having previ-ously won Moscow and Zhuhai to close out 2017 season – and Luxembourg (d. Bencic in F). Also finished R-Up at Charleston (l. Bertens) and made SF at New Haven (l. eventual champion Sabalenka) and Zhuhai (l. Barty)

• Struck 492 aces in 2018. Also hit 412 aces in 2017 season – only two other players have reached the 400-ace mark in a season: S.Williams (2012-15) and Ka.Pliskova (2014-17 and 2019)

• Posted 46 main draw wins in 2018 – only Ka.Plis-kova (49) and Kvitova (47) had more to their names Reached a career-high five finals in 2017 season, winning Moscow and biggest title of career at WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai

• Moscow title was first since 2011 Stuttgart, having also won 2010 Bad Gastein

• By winning 2017 Moscow, overtook Kerber to be-come German No.1 and also returned to Top 20 for first time since February 2013

• Opened 2016 by reaching first WTA singles final in nearly four years, finishing runner-up at Auckland (l. Stephens). Was first final since 2012 Dubai

• Grass court season saw her reach final at Notting-ham (l. Garcia in third set tie-break) before making 1r exits at Birmingham (l. eventual champion Barty) and Wimbledon (l. Riske)

• Made R16 run at Roland Garros (l. Konta), tying her previous best Grand Slam result at 2018 Wimbledon (l. Goerges)

• Withdrew from Rome with continued hip injury after retiring in R16 of Madrid (l. Martic)

• Posted QF showing at Stuttgart (l. Osaka, having led 5-1 in third set and being within two points of victory)

• Reached 3r at Miami (l. Kvitova) and 2r at Indian Wells (after 1r bye, l. qualifier Bonaventure)

• Advanced to SF at Acapulco (l. eventual champion Y.Wang)

• Fell 1r at Dubai (l. Jabeur) • On Fed Cup duty, won both singles rubbers against

Serbia (d. Krunic and Ozgen) as Croatia failed to advance in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I

• Reached biggest final of career at Premier-level St. Petersburg (l. Bertens)

• Posted best win of career by ranking – and third over a Top 5 opponent – with defeat of No.2 Kvitova en route to St. Petersburg QF, bettering victories over No.4 Stephens at 2018 Wimbledon and No.4 Garcia at 2018 Tokyo [PPO]

• Fell 2r at Australian Open (d. Mladenovic, l. Birrell) • Began 2019 season with SF run at Brisbane (l. even-

tual champion Ka.Pliskova)

• Suffered 1r defeat 1r on clay at Lausanne (l. Waltert via ret. w/right forearm injury)

• Advanced to 3r at Wimbledon (l. S.Williams)• Finished R-Up at Birmingham (l. eventual champion

Barty); now 7-9 in WTA singles finals• Made 2r at Rome (l. Buzarnescu via ret. w/right thigh

injury) and fell 1r at Stuttgart (l. Pavlyuchenkova), Madrid (l. Kuzmova) and Roland Garros (l. Kanepi)

• Helped Germany avoid dropping into Fed Cup World Group II thanks to 3-1 victory over Latvia in Riga (d. Marcinkevica in her sole singles rubber)

• Fell in 1r at Charleston (l. Townsend) after finishing runner-up previous year

• Advanced to 3r at both Indian Wells (l. Barthel) and Miami (l. Garcia)

• Reached QF at Doha (l. Halep), R16 at St. Peters-burg (l. Zvonareva) and fell in 1r at Dubai (l. Riske)

• As No.14 seed, suffered 1r upset at Australian Open (l. Collins in 3s)

• Opened 2019 season by defending her title at Auck-land (d. Andreescu in F)

VSDONNA VEKIC

JULIAGOERGES

• Born in Bad Oldesloe. Father is Klaus, mother is Inge; older sister is Maike

• Fan of winter sports, especially biathlon (cross country skiing combined with shooting)

• Coached by Sebastian Sachs. Physio and fitness coach is Florian Zitzelsberger

PERSONAL

• Both parents played professional sports: mother, Brankica (track hurdler) and father, Igor (soccer goalkeeper)

• Currently coached by Torben Beltz. Dario Novak is also part of coaching team

• Favorite surface is hard • Speaks Croatian, English and Italian • Self-described as strong-willed, determined and

extremely competitive

PERSONAL

CAREER CONT. • When she won first career singles title at 2014 Kuala

Lumpur, aged 17 yrs 10 mos, became youngest player to win a WTA singles title since 2006 Bangkok (Vania King)

• Reached first WTA career final at 2012 Tashkent. In what was her first WTA main draw appearance, became youngest WTA finalist since 15-year-old Paszek won Portoroz in 2005. Also finished run-ner-up on grass at 2013 Birmingham (l. Hantuchova) and 2015 Tashkent (l. Hibino). Including 2019 St. Petersburg and 2019 Nottingham, owns a 2-6 record in singles finals

• Broke into Top 100 (at No.93) on January 28, 2013 • Has won five ITF Circuit singles and one doubles title• Member of Croatian Fed Cup Team, 2012-15, 2017,

2019

• Enjoyed best doubles season to date in 2016, reaching final at Indian Wells (w/Ka.Pliskova) and qualifying for the WTA Finals for the first time. Set ca-reer-high doubles rank of No.12 on August 22, 2016

• In 2011, posted wins over World No.1 Wozniacki in consecutive weeks (Stuttgart final and Madrid)

• Made WTA main draw debut at 2007 Doha • Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Germa-

ny in 2005 • Member of German Fed Cup team 2008, 2010-19

CAREER CONT.

VSKRISTIEAHN

ELISE MERTENS

US OPEN• Making fourth main draw appearance at US Open

(fifth overall)• Matched previous best result at Flushing Meadows

by advancing to R16; also advanced to this stage last year (l. Stephens), becoming the first woman from Belgium to reach R16 at US Open since 2010 (Wickmayer – R16, Clijsters – WON)

• Fell 1r in 2016 (as qualifier, l. Muguruza) and 2017 (l. eventual R-Up Keys). Lost in 2015 qualifying

• Contesting doubles this fortnight w/Sabalenka (as No.4 seeds, d. Muchova/Teichmann in 2r on Satur-day) – pair sit seventh on Porsche Race to Shen-zhen leaderboard, with the Top 8 qualifying for the WTA Finals

• Triumphed in first two matches this fortnight without dropping serve, beating both Teichmann and Kr.Plis-kova by the same scoreline, 6-2 6-2

• Defeated No.88 Petkovic 6-3 6-3 to enter R16 as the player to have lost the least amount of games (14) throughout the women’s draw, trailed by Konta (15 games)

• Contesting 12th Grand Slam main draw at 2019 US Open – including results this fortnight, owns a 25-11 record across the majors

• Looking to improve 1-3 record in R16 matches, having only advanced past this stage during break-through run to SF at 2018 Australian Open (l. even-tual champion Wozniacki) - since breakthrough run, has reached 3r or better at every Slam

• Faces American No.141 Ahn in R16 today; bidding to avenge R16 loss to Ahn last month at San Jose

• Nine of 21 defeats in 2019 have come to players outside the Top 50, the lowest-ranked being today’s opponent, who was ranked No.178 when she defeat-ed Mertens in San Jose

• Owns 2-5 record against American opposition this season with victories coming against Anisimova (Indian Wells) and McNally (Cincinnati)

• In addition to SF showing at last year’s Australian Open, career highlights on hard courts include titles at Hobart in 2017 and 2018, and Doha in 2019

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• Advanced to first Grand Slam SF of career at 2018

Australian Open (l. eventual champion Wozniacki)• Became first Belgian to reach a Slam SF since

Flipkens at 2013 Wimbledon; also the first to do so at Australian Open since 2012 (Kim Clijsters, SF)

• In 2018, also achieved best result at Roland Garros, with run to R16 (l eventual champion Halep) and US Open where she also reached R16 (l. Stephens)

• Deepest run at Wimbledon was to R16 in 2019 (l. Strycova despite leading 6-4 5-2)

US OPEN• Making second main draw appearance in New York

this year• Made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2008

US Open• Fell in qualifying on last four attempts, 2009 and

2016-18• Contesting this year’s event as a main draw wildcard,

one of two wildcards to advance to 3r (also Gauff)• The last time a wildcard reached the R16 at the US

Open was 2017 (Sharapova, R16)• Defeated former US Open champion Kuznetsova

in 1r prior to another straight sets win over qualifier Kalinskaya

• First round win here was first career Grand Slam victory, consequently seeking first-ever QF berth at a Slam today

• Overcame No.77 Ostapenko for the second time this year (also at Bogota) to record her 10th career main draw victory and reach the second week of the US Open for the first time

• Has yet to drop a set at Flushing Meadows • Faces No.26 Mertens in R16 for the second time this

year, previously ousting the Belgian in R16 at San Jose to notch maiden Top 20 win

• One of four Americans still alive in the draw (also Townsend, Keys and S.Williams)

• Entering this year’s event, the home nation has had at least one representative in the semifinals (or better) every year dating back to the 2007 installment of the US Open

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• 2019 US Open marks fourth Grand Slam main draw

appearance, falling 1r (as qualifier, l. Sevastova)• Also fell 1r at direct main draw acceptant at 2018

Australian Open (l. Strycova) – was first main draw appearance at a Slam since 2008 US Open

• At home Slam of US Open, qualified and had 1r exit in 2008 (l. Safina). Fell in qualifying in 2009, 2016-17

• Has yet to make main draw debut at Roland Garros

• Enters New York following 1r qualifying exit at Cin-cinnati (l. Davis) and R16 showing last week at the Bronx (l. Muchova)

• Posted best WTA result of season with QF finish at San Jose (l. Vekic)

• Notched SF run at $60 ITF/Berkley-CA, USA (l. Brengle)

• Qualified for Wimbledon before falling 1r (l. Sevasto-va) on her third Slam main draw appearance

SEASON

VSKRISTIEAHN

ELISE MERTENS

• Won three titles in 2018 (Hobart, Rabat and Lugano), one of six players on tour with three or more titles to their name last year - also Kvitova (5), Svitolina (4), Bertens (3), Halep (3) and Wozniacki (3)

• Posted 46 main draw match wins in 2018 – only Ka.Pliskova (49) and Kvitova (47) registered more. By contrast, prior to last season owned only 36 wins at this level across entire career

• In doubles in 2018, won four titles and reached QF at WTA Finals (w/Schuurs)

• Finished 2017 season at No.35, up from No.120 in 2016 – first Top 50 and Top 100 year-end finish

• 2017 season highlighted by first career singles title at Hobart (as a qualifier, d. Niculescu in F)

• Also in 2017, advanced to final at Istanbul (l. Svitoli-na) and made SF runs at Bastad (l. Wozniacki), New Haven (l. Cibulkova) and Luxembourg (l. Puig)

• Registered first Top 10 win of career over No.10

CAREER MILESTONES

CAREER MILESTONES• Enjoyed second Top 200 season in 2018 at No.196

(also No.106 in 2017)• Highlights of 2018 season were R-Up finish at $60K

ITF/Landisville-PA and 2r showing at Charleston (l. Goerges). Also fell 1r at Sydney, Australian Open, Nottingham, Washington DC and Quebec City

• Reached career-high ranking of No.105 following 2018 Sydney (January 15, 2018)

• Owns 14 career wins over Top 100 players: No.94 Cepelova (2017 Monterrey), No.62 Osaka and No.77 Linette (both at 2017 Nottingham), No.54 Maria (2017 Seoul), No.39 Suarez Navarro, No.80 Larsson and No.58 Puig (all at 2018 Sydney), No.95 Townsend (2018 Indian Wells 125k), No.57 Stosur (2018 Charleston), No.98 Cirstea (2019 Indian Wells 125k), No.29 Ostapenko (2019 Bogota), No.95 Davis (2019 Wimbledon qualifying), No.42 Tomljanovic and No.20 Mertens (both at 2019 San Jose)

• Career highlight to date is SF run at 2017 Notting-ham (as qualifier, l. Rybarikova); also won $80k USTA Pro Circuit event in Tyler Texas in November, 2017

• Owns seven ITF Circuit singles titles overall, as well as two doubles titles

• Made professional debut at $10k ITF/Landisville, PA-USA (won title)

• Coached by Jay Devashetty this week• Serves on the WTA Player’s Council as a represen-

tative for players ranked 101+ • Graduated from Stanford University in 2014 with a

major in Science, Technology and Society• Also graduated as a four-time all American, going

97-17 in four seasons with the Cardinal and was named the 2014 ITA National Senior Player of the Year

PERSONAL

SEASON CONT.• Fell 2r on all three summer hard court outings, at

San Jose (after 1r bye, l. No.178 Ahn - in terms of ranking, her worst loss in over two years), Toronto (l. l. S.Williams) and Cincinnati (l. Svitolina)

• Advanced to R16 at Wimbledon for the first time (l. Strycova, having led 6-4 5-2)

• Also posted R16 showing at Eastbourne (l. eventual champion Ka.Pliskova); win over Vondrousova in 2r was 100th at main draw level

• Made QF at Mallorca (l. eventual champion Kenin) and fell 1r at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. Alexandrova)

• Reached 3r at Roland Garros (l. No.12 Sevastova)• Exited 1r at both Madrid (l. Schmiedlova) and Rome

(l. V.Williams 7-6 in third set)• Reached QF during defense of Rabat title (l. eventu-

al champion Sakkari)• Fell 2r in first clay court event of 2019 at Charleston,

(after 1r bye, l. Kanepi in a topsy-turvy battle having bageled each other in the first two sets)

• Made 1r exit at Dubai (l. Zhu) followed by 3r runs at Indian Wells (l. Q.Wang) and Miami (l. Vondrousova)

• Completed ‘Sunshine Double’ in doubles (w/Sabalen-ka), lifting the back-to-back titles at Indian Wells (d. Krejcikova/Siniakova) and Miami (d. Stosur/Zhang)

• Won biggest title of career at Doha (d. No.3 Halep in final). Now owns 5-1 record in finals

• Also beat No.8 Bertens and No.6 Kerber in Doha, doubling career total Top 10 wins to six

• Lost both singles rubbers during Belgium’s 3-1 home defeat to France in Liege (l. Cornet and Garcia)

• Made 3r at Australian Open (l. Keys)• Began season by falling 1r at Brisbane (l. Bertens)

and reaching QF at Sydney (l. Barty)

SEASON• Also on grass, suffered early defeats at ITF Circuit

events at $100k Manchester-GBR, $100K Ilkley-GBR and $100K Surbiton-GBR

• On clay, reached 2r at Bogota (as LL, l. Osorio Serra-no) and contested qualifying at Roland Garros

• Fell in qualifying at Monterrey and at WTA 125K Series events, made R16 at Indian Wells and 2r at Newport Beach

• Started the year, playing a mixture of ITF and WTA events, with highlight at the former a R-Up finish at $25K ITF/Rancho Santa Fe-CA, USA and a SF showing at $60K ITF/Fukuoka-JPN

• Opened season with 1r exit at $25K ITF/Play-ford-AUS and contesting qualifying at Australian

VSKRISTIEAHN

ELISE MERTENS

CAREER CONT. Cibulkova in 1r at 2017 Beijing

• Made WTA singles main draw debut at 2016 ‘s-Her-togenbosch – made QF (as qualifier, l. Mladenovic)

• Won first WTA title of any kind in doubles at 2016 Auckland (w/Mestach). Now has eight doubles titles – also 2017 Guangzhou (w/Schuurs), 2018 Hobart (w/Schuurs), 2018 Lugano (w/Flipkens), 2018 ‘s-Her-togenbosch (w/Schuurs), 2018 Wuhan (w/Schuurs) and 2019 Indian Wells-Miami double (w/Sabalenka)

• Played first tour-level event of career at 2015 Ant-werp (fell in qualifying)

• Has 11 singles and 14 doubles titles on ITF Circuit • Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Belgium

in 2010

PERSONAL• Recently parted ways with coach David Taylor; now

back with former coach Robbe Ceyssens• Earlier coaching history includes Belgian federation

until early teens, as well as a year at the Mouratoglou Academy

• Is an animal lover, and has four dogs and a variety of birds as pets (pheasants, peacocks)