Six-time US Open champion Chris Evert and ESPN’s Mike Greenberg came up short in their bid for a wild card into the 2011 US Open Monday, losing their mixed doubles second round match at the US Open National Playoffs USTA Eastern Sectional Qualifying Tournament at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Evert and Greenberg lost to a pair of local teaching pros, Bea Bielik, the 2002 NCAA singles champion, and Darrin Cohen, a former standout at the University of Virginia, 6-1, 6-4. Bielik made her return to the site of the US Open, where she reached the third round in 2002 and lost to Justine Henin.
Evert and Greenberg were eight matches away from reaching the main draw of the 2011 US Open.
“It has always been Mike’s dream to play in the US Open and I was happy to help him with his dream,” said Evert, who admitted that her partner exceeded her expectations.
“Also, I’m impossibly charming,” added Greenberg to Evert’s point. “You know, she was my first love, Chris Evert. I’ll come back every year and play in this event, provided I get to team with her. We had a great time.”
The US Open National Playoffs USTA Eastern Sectional Qualifying Tournament is the second of 16 Sectional Qualifying Tournaments taking place nationwide through June. The winners of each of the 16 sectional qualifiers advance to the US Open National Playoffs – Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles Championships held during the New Haven Open at Yale, an Olympus US Open Series women’s event, in August.
The US Open National Playoffs mixed doubles champions receive a main draw wild card into the 2011 US Open. The US Open National Playoffs men’s and women’s singles champions again earn a wild card into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, held the week prior to the US Open.
Photocredit to Jennifer Pottheiser/USTA
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