ORACLE CHALLENGER SERIES CHICAGO FIELDS HEADLINED BY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST MONICA PUIG AND AMERICANS JENNIFER BRADY, SACHIA VICKERY, CHRISTINA MCHALE, TAYLOR FRITZ, MACKENZIE MCDONALD AND BRADLEY KLAHN
Women’s Qualifying Field Includes Former World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, Brit Heather Watson, and Americans Madison Brengle, Nicole Gibbs and Caroline Dolehide
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., August 15, 2018 – The Oracle Challenger Series, a combined ATP Challenger Tour and WTA $125k tennis tournament to be held September 2-9, 2018 at the XS Tennis Village in Chicago, Ill., has released its entry lists today, which are highlighted by 2016 Olympic Singles Gold Medalist Monica Puig and Americans Jennifer Brady, Sachia Vickery, Christina McHale, Taylor Fritz, Mackenzie McDonald and Bradley Klahn.
A strong women’s field includes Puig, who captured Puerto Rico’s first-ever Olympics gold medal with her victory in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro singles tournament. She will be challenged by a group of Americans including Brady; Vickery, who upset then-World No. 3 Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round at the BNP Paribas Open last year; McHale and Vania King. The top ranked player on the women’s side is World No. 51 Petra Martic from Croatia.
On the men’s side the field is highlighted by Fritz, currently ranked No. 70, who took home the title at the inaugural Oracle Challenger Series event at Newport Beach this past January. McDonald, who advanced to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon earlier this year, was a recipient of the first ever Oracle Tennis Award in 2017, which awards $100,000 to an American that played college tennis and is embarking on his or her professional tennis career. Klahn’s performance in the Oracle Challenger Series last year allowed him to capture one of the two wild card spots into the BNP Paribas Open, offered to the top two men’s and women’s players that accumulate the most points in the Series. The top ranked participant on the men’s side is World No. 60 Malek Jaziri from Tunisia.
The women’s qualifying draw includes recognizable names such as former World No. 2 and 12-time winner on the WTA Vera Zvonareva; former World No. 5 and 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard; three-time WTA title winner Heather Watson; and Americans Madison Brengle, Nicole Gibbs and Caroline Dolehide. The men’s qualifying draw will be announced in the coming weeks, along with the remaining spots in both main draws and the WTA qualifying draw, which will be filled by wildcards.
The 2018-2019 Oracle Challenger Series will begin in Chicago and culminate at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open, the largest ATP World Tour and WTA combined two-week event in the world held annually at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The two American women and two American men who accumulate the most points over the course of the Series will receive wild cards into their respective singles main draws in Indian Wells. The tournament marks the first professional tennis tournament to be held in the city of Chicago since the 1990s.
