2014 Acceptance List Announced

Rising Stars Klahn And Kudla Highlight Field

Binghamton Mayor Rich David

Binghamton Mayor Rich David was on hand at Recreation Park Thursday afternoon for the announcement that Bradley Klahn and Denis Kudla, both ranked in the top-120, will headline the main draw field at this year’s Levene Gouldin & Thompson (LG&T) Tennis Challenger.

Currently ranked No. 74 in the world, Klahn is the highest-ranked of the 22 men who received direct acceptance in the 32-player main draw. Thirty-two players will compete in the qualifying tournament July 12-13 for four other berths. The tournament organizers and the USTA will also award wild card entries to complete the field.

Klahn peaked at No. 63 in the world in March after winning the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit Challenger in Maui, Hawaii and a Challenger in Australia following the Australian Open. Klahn was the 2013 USTA Pro Circuit Prize Money Leader with $50,606 in earnings, reaching five USTA Pro Circuit singles finals, winning a pair of titles. The Poway, California native earned a USTA wild card into the 2013 US Open through the wild card challenge.

Kudla, who is currently ranked No. 120 in the world broke into the Top-100 for the first time in 2013 after advancing to the second round of the US Open and Wimbledon. Kudla won his sixth career USTA Pro Circuit singles title last weekend at the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship in Winnetka, Illinois. Kudla, who was born in Kiev, Ukraine but resides in Arlington, Virginia, was formerly ranked No. 3 in the world junior rankings and reached the boys’ singles final at the 2010 US Open.

Klahn and Kudla are two of nine Americans in the main draw, along with Rhyne Williams, a former All-American and NCAA singles finalist at Tennessee; former Top-10 junior Mitchell Krueger; Virginia standout and former ITA Player of the Year Jarmere Jenkins and Robby Ginepri who has reached the fourth round or better at all four Grand Slam events.

The tournament is the 7th USTA Pro Circuit men’s challenger event of the 2014 season. The LG&T Challenger is the first leg of the four-tournament US Open Wild Card Challenge, which awards a men’s wild card into the US Open in August based on results in Binghamton, Lexington, Vancouver, Aptos – wrapping up on August 10. The Challenger also features a 16-team doubles tournament.

2014 LG&T Challenger Acceptance List

Cox, Daniel GBR 214
Crepaldi, Erik ITA 440
Duckworth, James AUS 161
Garanganga, Takanyi ZIM 296
Ginepri, Robby USA 278
Gomez, Emilio ECU 225
Jenkins, Jarmere USA 237
King, Darian BAR 453
King, Evan USA 432
Klahn, Bradley USA 75
Kokkinakis, Thanasi AUS 302
Krueger, Mitchell USA 330
Kudla, Denis USA 136
Marchenko, Illya UKR 184
Mena, Facundo ARG 459
Nevolo, Dennis USA 471
Odesnik, Wayne USA 191
Reid, Matt AUS 202
Smethurst, Daniel GBR 234
Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR 90
Thompson, Jordan AUS 265
Williams, Rhyne USA 193

Alternates

1 Donaldson, Jared USA 477
2 Wolmarans, Fritz RSA 479
3 Novikov, Dennis USA 494
4 Martin, Fabrice FRA 506
5 Ouellette, Greg USA 520
6 Milton, Joshua GBR 570
7 Dadamo, Jeff USA 606
8 Hochwalt, Tyler USA 616
9 Escobedo, Ernesto USA 644
10 Roelofse, Ruan RSA 676
11 McDonald, Mackenzie USA 691
12 McCarthy, Devin USA 696
13 Nguyen, Daniel USA 703
14 Sato, Bumpei JPN 704
15 Sitak, Artem NZL 860
16 Witten, Jesse USA 903
17 Letcher, Chris AUS 991
18 Hubble, Adam AUS 1311
19 Lin, Winston USA 1842
20 Nunez Aguilera, Alan MEX 2099

And preparations for the tournament are fast underway at Recreation Park, with the help of volunteers!

photo-8

Thanks again to Taylor Rental coming through with the tents this year
Taylor Rental tents