America’s biggest tennis tournament will have a light blue tint in 2021, as several UNC tennis alumnae qualified for the event.
Jamie Loeb, who played for the women’s tennis program from 2013 to 2015, will make her second appearance in the tournament after competing in 2015. She qualified for that tournament by winning the NCAA Singles Championship with the Tar Heels.
This time around, though, Loeb had to qualify the hard way, winning three matches in a row to clinch her spot in the main singles draw.
For the first time since 2015, she's heading back to the @usopen main draw! 👏 pic.twitter.com/AmyMwbevM3
— USTA (@usta) August 27, 2021
The U.S. Open is played in Queens, N.Y., just an hour’s drive from Loeb’s hometown of Ossining, N.Y. She will open play Tuesday against No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland. Swiatek is a former Grand Slam champion, having won the French Open in 2020.
During her time in Chapel Hill, Loeb was named ACC Player of the Year and an ITA All-American twice.
Hayley Carter, a former teammate of Loeb at UNC, will be competing in the doubles draw of the U.S. Open with partner Astra Sharma of Australia. The pair are currently ranked No. 26 in the world in doubles and advanced to the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Open.
Also competing in doubles will be the team of Makenna Jones and Elizabeth Scotty. Jones and Scotty punched their tickets to New York by winning the NCAA Doubles Championship in May.
Featured image via Carolina Athletics
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