Collins and Elbaba To Play in Inaugural American Collegiate Invitational

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Sept. 3, 2014

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia All-Americans Julia Elbaba (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) and Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) are among eight women’s players that will compete in the inaugural American Collegiate Invitational at the US Open, held Sept. 4-6 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

The women’s singles winner of the American Collegiate Invitational will be guaranteed a wild card into the qualifying draw of the 2015 US Open. Wild card entry into the main draw will be awarded to the women’s champion if she’s ranked No. 150 or better.

Joining Elbaba and Collins in the prestigious field are Kristie Ahn (Stanford), Jennifer Brady (UCLA), Hayley Carter (North Carolina), Alex Cercone (Florida), Olivia Janowicz (Florida) and Jamie Loeb (North Carolina). All eight competitors will compete as individuals and not for their respective universities.

Collins and Elbaba will face a pair of Florida Gators in their opening singles matches on Thursday, Sept. 4. Collins battles Janowicz in the quarterfinals at 11 a.m., while Elbaba faces Cercone in another quarterfinal match at approximately 2:30 p.m. Other first round matches include: Loeb vs. Brady and Ahn vs. Carter.

Collins, the reigning NCAA singles champion, made her US Open debut this year. Collins extended No. 2-seed Simona Halep to three sets, but lost 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round of the main draw.

Elbaba has earned three ITA All-America honors, including a pair of singles honors. In 2013-14, Elbaba posted a 31-6 singles record and finished the season ranked sixth in the final ITA rankings.

Fans can also follow Elbaba and Collins during the tournament online at USOpen.org.