AUSTIN, Texas — Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, will be among the players participating in the inaugural ATX Open. She joins Danielle Collins, Sloane Stephens and Peyton Stearns in committing to play the Hologic WTA Tour 250 tournament February 27-March 5 at Westwood Country Club.
“We are thrilled that Emma, the youngest Grand Slam champion in the game today, will be coming to the ATX Open,” said Christo Van Rensburg, DropShot Series Tournament Director. “We look forward to her joining Danielle, Sloane and Peyton for our inaugural tournament, and are very excited to know that we will be welcoming them to Austin in less than one month.”
Ranked World No.150 entering the 2021 US Open, Raducanu had to get through three rounds of qualifying to join the main draw field. Her title was the first by a qualifier at a Grand Slam, and she did so without dropping a set in any of her 10 matches in New York.
At 18 years old, Raducanu was the youngest to win a major since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004. She was named the WTA’s Newcomer of the Year for the 2021 season.
In 2022, Raducanu climbed to as high as No.10 in the WTA rankings and reached the semifinals in Seoul and added quarterfinals in Stuttgart and Washington, D.C. Prior to her US Open triumph, Raducanu had reached the fourth round in her Wimbledon debut. Born in Toronto, the 20-year-old represents Great Britain after moving to the London area when she was two.
Raducanu is the second US Open winner in the ATX Open field, joining 2017 US Open champion Stephens. The winner of seven career titles, Stephens has been ranked as high as World No.3. She has also reached three other finals, including at the French Open and WTA Finals in 2018.
Collins also has experience in major finals, having finished as runner-up at the 2022 Australian Open. That run helped her climb to as high as No.7 in the WTA rankings. The winner of a pair of WTA titles, Collins was also a two-time NCAA singles champion during her career at the University of Virginia.
Stearns was a standout at the University of Texas before turning professional last summer. She helped the Longhorns win a pair of NCAA team titles while also claiming the NCAA singles championship in 2022. She has won four ITF titles in her career, including at Austin’s H-E-B Women’s Pro Tennis Open last fall.
The initial entry list for the 32-player ATX Open field will be…