The Winston-Salem Open added another top player to its field Wednesday as world No. 17 Kevin Anderson accepted a wild card to compete in the ATP World Tour event, which begins this Saturday, Aug. 16 at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex adjacent to BB&T Field.
Anderson, a 6-8 South African who has one of the fastest serves on tour, gives the tournament a third top 20 player, joining two-time champion and Triad-native John Isner and popular Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the field.
“We’re very excited that Kevin Anderson is coming to play in the Winston-Salem Open,” said tournament director Bill Oakes. “Kevin has had a great year to reach No. 17 in the ATP rankings, and fans will want to come see his big serve up close. We still have three more wild cards to give out this week and are looking forward to adding more great players to our already strong field.”
The Winston-Salem Open begins with qualifying on Saturday, with main draw play starting on Sunday, Aug. 17 and culminating in the finals on Saturday, Aug. 23. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased on WinstonSalemOpen.com or by calling (336) 758-6409.
In the midst of one of the best years of his career, Anderson reached his career-high ranking of No. 17 this week after making back-to-back quarterfinals in Toronto and Washington. At the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Canada last week he defeated Australian Open champion and world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka to make the final eight.
A winner of two career ATP singles titles, Anderson joins Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the only players to reach at least the Round of 16 at all three Grand Slams this year. He has reached ATP finals in 2014 at Delray Beach and Acapulco.
Anderson will be playing in the Winston-Salem Open for the second time. He was the No. 12 seed in the 2012 tournament.
Three more wild card berths in the Winston-Salem Open field remain to be handed out before the tournament draw is made on Friday evening.