Former US Open champion Sloane Stephens (above) has been awarded a main draw wild card for the San Diego Open WTA 500. The women’s professional tennis tournament is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 8 through Sunday, Oct. 16 at Barnes Tennis Center, 4490 W Point Loma Blvd.
The 29-year-old Stephens, a native of Plantation, Fla., won the US Open singles championship in 2017 and reached the French Open singles final in 2018. She holds seven career WTA singles titles and achieved a career-high No. 3 in the WTA singles rankings in July 2018.
“I’m thrilled to receive a main draw wild card into the inaugural San Diego Open WTA 500 at Barnes Tennis Center. I remember playing there as a junior in the Girls’ 18s Nationals. It’s a great venue for a new WTA tournament,” said Stephens. “With such a strong player field, the competition will be very tough, but I’m looking forward to having a great week in San Diego.”
Stephens, currently ranked No. 50 in the world, captured her most recent WTA singles title in February this year in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Reigning US Open champion Iga Swiatek of Poland headlines the Hologic WTA Tour event, which will feature seven of the Top 10 and 16 of the Top 20 players in women’s professional tennis, including Americans Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins, and Madison Keys, along with Paula Badosa and Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain.
To view the current tournament player field, click here.
Tickets for the inaugural San Diego Open WTA 500 can be purchased at https://barnessdopen.com/tickets-2
The tournament will offer $757,000 in prize money and will have a 32-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw. A 24-player qualifying draw will also be played with six qualifiers advancing to the main draw. Qualifying rounds will take place the weekend of Oct. 8-9. Main Draw matches begin Monday, Oct. 10 and conclude with the singles and doubles final on Sunday, October 16.
The San Diego Open WTA 500 Tournament marks the return of the WTA to San Diego County, which has a rich history of hosting top-level women’s tennis events dating back to 1971. The most recent WTA tournament was played in Carlsbad in 2015.
WTA Grand Slam champions who have won titles in San Diego include Billie Jean King, Tracy Austin, Steffi Graf, Jennifer Capriati, Conchita Martínez, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Mary Pierce, Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Samantha Stosur.