Wild cards commit to Connecticut Open tourney
The Connecticut Open’s best field in more than a decade was cemented Thursday with commitments from a pair of highly ranked players.
World No. 8 Karolina Pliskova and No. 24 CoCo Vandeweghe, the fourthranked U.S. player, accepted wild cards into the tournament. Securing Pliskova gives the tournament five of the top 10 players in the world: No. 1 Simona Halep, No. 5 Caroline Garcia, No. 6 Petra Kvitova and No. 10 Julia Goerges are also committed.
That’s the most top-10 players in the field since
2006, when six top-10 players were entered.
“We’re quite pleased with this,” said tournament director Anne Worcester. “We’re guaranteed exciting matches, with recognizable names, from the first round on.”
Qualifying play begins Friday at the Connecticut Tennis Center, with a dozen Americans among the 48player field — all of whom are top-100 players. Tickets for the qualifying rounds on Friday and Saturday can be purchased for $7.
The main draw begins begins Sunday.
The addition of Pliskova and Vandeweghe completes this year’s field. That means the small chance of a commitment from Serena Williams, who lost in Cincinnati on Wednesday night, has gone by the wayside.
“I think Serena has a lot going on the week before the U.S. Open,” said Worcester, who reached out to Williams’ agent, Jill Smoller, on Wednesday. “She has a lot of commercial and media obligations.”
Worcester also reached out to Williams’ sister, Venus, as well as four-time tourney champion Caroline Wozniacki. In fact, as late as 10 a.m. on Thursday, Worcester was still awaiting word on Wozniacki, who has struggled through a tough summer and withdrew from her match in Cincinnati on Wednesday night.
Pliskova, 26, reached No. 1 in the world last year. She was the top-ranked player for seven weeks in July and August, finishing the year at No. 4.
She reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open this year, and was a quarterfinalist at Indian Wells and Miami. She beat Vandeweghe for a title in Stuttgart, Germany, before reaching the semifinals in Madrid.
But she lost in the third round at the French Open and in the round of 16 at Wimbledon. After losing in the second round in Montreal, she was eliminated in the second round at Cincinnati on Wednesday.
Pliskova last played in New Haven in 2015, when she reached the quarterfinals.
“She’s been one of the most dominant players on tour the past few years,” Worcester noted. “Her serve is one of the biggest weapons in tennis.”
Vandeweghe was ranked a career-high No. 9 in January. Her best result this year was the trip to the finals in Germany, but she has not played many recent matches — she lost in the first round at Birmingham, Wimbledon and Cincinnati.
In 2016, Vandeweghe was a finalist at the Australian Open and the U.S. Open. She is winless in three matches in New Haven, last appearing in 2015.
“With her spunky personality, she’s a fan favorite,” Worcester said of Vandeweghe, whose uncle, Kiki, is a former NBA superstar. “We met at Wimbledon, along with her coach, Pat Cash, and told her how much we’d love to give her a wild card.”
Tickets for the 2018 Connecticut Open are available at CTOpen.org/Tickets, or by calling the box office at 855-464-8366. Tickets for Beer Fest at the Connecticut Open on Saturday, Aug. 25, are available at bit.ly/BeerFestatCTO.
The official WTA draw ceremony will take place at Yale University’s Sterling Library on Friday at 1 p.m. World No.10 Julia Goerges is confirmed to take part.