Courtney and Shabaz Receive US Open Doubles Wildcard

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FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. – The Virginia doubles team of Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) received a wildcard entry into the 2010 US Open, beginning this week at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The 2010 NCAA Doubles Champions will meet No. 10 seed Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman in the first round.

It is the second pro event of the summer that Courtney and Shabaz have been given a wildcard. They played in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington earlier this month, falling 7-6(6), 6-4 to Bob and Mike Bryan in the first round. The Bryan brothers are the top seed at this year’s US Open.

Earlier this year, Norman and Moodie reached the semifinals of Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Doubles play at the US Open will begin later this week.

Former Cavalier Somdev Devvarman will open singles play Monday at the US Open, as he faces Kevin Anderson of South Africa, ranked No. 77 in the world. Anderson played collegiately at Illinois from 2005-07. This will be the first professional meeting between the two, who met twice in college. In the 2007 NCAA Singles Championship, Devvarman topped Anderson 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3 in the semifinals before winning the title over Georgia’s John Isner the next day. In the regular season meeting between Virginia and Illinois that season at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, Devvarman edged Anderson 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8, rallying from down 7-2 in the superbreaker to win. The two played doubles together at Wimbledon in 2009, advancing from qualifying into the main draw.