American teenagers Sam Querrey and Madison Brengle have received
wildcards into the main draw of next month's Australian Open,
organizers said on Wednesday.
Querrey, 19, ranked 130 in the world, is a fast-rising youngster
who improved more than 600 spots in the rankings during the same
year he graduated from high school.
Brengle, 16, earned her entry into the year's first grand slam
tournament by winning an eight-player event at the USTA Player
Development headquarters in Key Biscayne, Florida and is ranked 498
in the world.
They are the recipients of the wildcards under a reciprocal
arrangement with the United States Tennis Association (USTA).
The USTA gave Australians Mark Philippoussis and Alicia Molik
singles main draw wildcards into this year's US Open as part of the
arrangement.
Tennis Australia awards eight men's and eight women's main draw
wildcards to the January 15-28 Australian Open in Melbourne, with
the two Asian wildcards already awarded to Go Soeda of Japan and
Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova.
Two wildcards are still to be nominated by the French Tennis
Federation as part of a reciprocal exchange with the French
Open.
(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2006)