Reilly Opelka and Taylor Townsend top Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge



by JOVICA ILIC

Reilly Opelka and Taylor Townsend top Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge

The 7th edition of the USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge is on a half-way point, with two weeks behind us and two more left to go in order to determine the American player who will earn the place in the Roland Garros main draw in both men's and women's competition. All the players who missed the main draw entry list due to their ranking are in contention for the wild card, competing against the fellow Americans in various clay events in the USA (women) and all around the globe in ATP and Challenger events (men).

There are 17 tournaments in total who are countable in men's standings and the current leader is Reilly Opelka, passing Denis Kudla by one point after reaching the semi-final in Sarasota Challenger. Reilly had to retire in that semi-final match and he is not in Tallahassee draw this week while Denis Kudla leads the field as the top seed.

Reilly is on 33 points while Kudla collected 32 and Stefan Kozlov is just a few points behind them, although he is skipping this week's action as well. The player who collects the most points in two different events will earn the Roland Garros main draw wild card and Kudla will boost his chances with a good result in Tallahassee.

The women's standings are much easier to follow, with four ITF events on green Har-Tru clay, and the current favorite to grab the wild card in Taylor Townsend who won the title in Dothan last week. Taylor is on 144 points, 64 clear of Caroline Dolehide who won the first tournament at Indian Harbour Beach.

The third tournament takes place in Charlottesville this week and Townsend is the third seed while Dolehide decided to skip it, just like Dothan, and Taylor could seal the deal in the standings with another big result before heading to Charleston for the final round of the Challenge. The Wild Card Challenge leaders after the second week:

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Reilly Opelka Taylor Townsend Roland Garros