STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford women’s tennis will have three underclassmen in New York for the US Open. Freshman Monika Ekstrand was one of nine American women to receive a wild card into the US Open Qualifying tournament, held August 18-21 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Along with Ekstrand, sophomore Valerie Glozman and freshman Alyssa Ahn received singles main draw wild cards, Glozman by winning the inaugural American Collegiate Wild Card Playoffs in June and Ahn by winning the singles title USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships. All three are 18 years old.
Ekstrand reached the final of the W100 event in Cary, N.C. last month as a qualifier and has won two professional singles titles this year – the W35 event in Jackson, Miss. in April and another W35 event in Boca Raton, Fla. In May.
Ekstrand and Ahn are part of the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class along with Tianmei Wang. All three are blue-chip recruits according to the Tennis Recruiting Network and among the nation’s top five high school seniors that will enroll on college campuses this fall.