The USTA National Open Hard Court Championships, which feature some of the top Open Division players in the country, will get underway at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 28 at the Balboa Tennis Club, 2221 Morley Field Drive, San Diego, CA 92104. The national tennis tournament will continue through Sunday, June 3.
The men’s singles draw, which has over 100 competitors, is headlined by top-seeded Henry Craig of Murrieta, Calif. The 23-year-old Craig played four years of collegiate tennis at the University of Denver. After graduating in 2016, he turned professional and since then has played primarily on the USTA Pro Circuit. Craig is currently ranked No. 629 in the ATP World Tour singles rankings (as of 5/21/18).
Former two-time tournament singles champion Emanuel Mensah of Chula Vista, Calif., is seeded second. The 29-year-old Mensah, who represented his native country of Ghana in Davis Cup play, won the USTA National Open Hard Court Championships in 2015 and 2016.
Jessica Failla of Ramona, Calif., is the top-seed in the women’s singles draw. Failla played collegiate tennis for USC for two seasons before transferring last year to Pepperdine University, where she was a red-shirt this past season. Failla won the tournament singles title at the Balboa Tennis Club in 2016 and was a singles finalist last year.
Nicole Mossmer, a former USTA Girls’ 16s National singles champion, is seeded second. The 17-year-old from La Jolla, Calif., reached the second-round of the Australian Open Junior Championships in January this year. Over 40 players are entered in the women’s singles draw.
“This is such a unique national tennis event with aspiring professionals, collegiate players and top juniors among the entries competing for the title,” said Tournament Director Colleen Clery Ferrell. “We’re amazed with the depth of the draws this year. It’s going to be a very exciting week of high-level Open Division tennis. I invite tennis fans to come and enjoy the matches all week.”
In addition to singles divisions, players will also compete in Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles divisions. The champions in each division will be awarded a USTA gold ball, while the runner-up will receive a USTA silver ball. There will also be a 3rd/4th place playoff for the USTA bronze ball. Prize money will be distributed to both finalists as well as third and fourth place finishers in each division. All draws will have consolation events.
The list of seeded players and draws for each division can be viewed at the following link:
https://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=206573#&&s=5
The starting times for each day of the tournament will be as follows:
Monday, May 28 through Saturday, June 2 — 9 a.m.
Sunday, June 3 — 11 a.m. (Women’s Singles Final), Noon (Men’s Singles Final).
All times are PDT.
Admission for spectators is free and open to the public. On-site parking is free.
The USTA National Open Hard Court Championships was voted “Tournament of the Year” in 2011 by the San Diego District Tennis Association. The event has had several distinguished past champions and participants. U.S. Davis Cup star Jack Sock, who reached a career-high No. 8 in the ATP World Tour singles rankings last year, won the Men’s Singles Championship in 2010. Coco Vandeweghe, a semifinalist at last year’s Australian Open and US Open, earned a USTA bronze ball at the 2007 Hard Court Championships. Former WTA touring professionals Gretchen Rush and Ros Nideffer won the Women’s Open Doubles title seven times, while Allison Bradshaw captured the Women’s Open Singles title in 2007.