Pair of Gators Playing at US Open Tennis Championships
Oliver Crawford earned a wild card into the qualifying draw, while Ben Shelton earned a wild card into the main draw
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gators will be represented at the US Open for the second consecutive year as Oliver Crawford played in the first round of the singles qualifier on Wednesday and Ben Shelton will compete in the first round of the main draw beginning Aug. 29.
Crawford entered the tournament with a career-high ranking at No. 309 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and was matched up with ATP No. 150 Geoffrey Blancaneaux from France.
In the former Gators’ first appearance at the US Open, Crawford fell in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Crawford jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first set thanks to a break point, but Blancaneaux answered with a break point of his own to tie it 1-1. Blancaneaux converted his second break point of the set at 3-2 to distance himself from Crawford at 4-2 and won his second consecutive game pushing the lead to 5-2. Crawford won his service game narrowing the deficit to 5-3, but Blancaneaux closed the first set out, 6-3, on serve.
The Spartanburg, S.C. native continued to battle in the second set, despite going down 2-0 to start. With Blancaneaux holding a 3-1 lead, Crawford bounced back winning two games in a row to tie it up at 3-all. Once again, Blancaneaux responded with a crucial break point for the 4-3 lead and won his following service game 5-3. Crawford inched closer at 5-4, but Blancaneaux put the nail in the coffin for the 6-4 second set victory.
The US Open released the main draw on Thursday afternoon and Shelton will face an opponent from the qualifier in the first round. The Gainesville, Fla. native returns to the Grand Slam after receiving a wild card into last year’s qualifying draw. In 2021, he upset Michael Mmoh in straight sets in the first round, but lost in a hard-fought match with Botic van de Zandschlup to prevent Shelton from advancing to the main draw.
On Wednesday night, Shelton participated in the Tennis Plays for Peace<https://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/articles/2022-08-24/tennis_plays_for_peace_exhibition_at_2022_us_open_raises_12_million_for_ukrainian_relief_efforts.html> exhibition and helped the tournament surpass $1.2 million raised for humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine.
For more information, visit the US Open website<https://www.usopen.org/index.html>.
