New York, Aug 4 (IANS) Former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu and Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen are among the stars named to feature in the entry list for this year’s qualifying competition for the year’s last Grand Slam, which begins on August 24 in Flushing Meadows.
While the stars will be hoping to turn back the clock and go for the title, the 16-year-old Kristina Liutova will make her Grand Slam qualifying debut after becoming the first 2010-born player to win a WTA tournament last week in Memphis on her tour-level debut.
Andreescu, 26, made history in 2019 by becoming the first player to win the US Open on her main-draw debut. Having struggled with an array of injuries since, the Canadian will be playing the qualifying rounds for the first time since 2018, when she lost her opener to Olga Danilovic.
Andreescu’s last appearance in Flushing Meadows was in 2024, when she fell in the first round to Jasmine Paolini. This year, she has won two World Tennis titles, reached the Austin WTA 125 final in March and qualified for Wimbledon; she is currently ranked No. 179.
Andreescu is one of two Grand Slam winners to be named in the qualifying entry list alongside 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin. The American, whose career-best showing at her home major was a fourth-round run in 2020, is ranked No. 118 after compiling a 5-19 record so far in 2026.
Former No. 4 Zheng, the 2024 Australian Open runner-up, played just one tournament between July 2025 and February this year due to elbow surgery. Since returning, she has compiled an 11-13 record and is coming off a first-round qualifying loss in Toronto to Lanlana Tararudee.
Now ranked No. 125, Zheng will compete in Grand Slam qualifying for just the second time in her career — previously, she came through the preliminary rounds to make her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2022 Australian Open.
Liutova is one of two 2026 WTA titlists on the qualifying entry list, alongside No. 200-ranked ‘s-Hertogenbosch champion Robin Montgomery. The 21-year-old American is on the comeback trail from a wrist injury that sidelined her for nine months between July 2025 — just after she reached her career high of No. 95 — and April 2026.
According to the WTA, two 2026 WTA finalists also feature on the qualifying entry list — former NCAA champion Darja Vidmanova, who lost to Liutova in the Memphis final, and 19-year-old Ukrainian Veronika Podrez, who was Rouen runner-up in April on her tour-level debut.
Two former Grand Slam semifinalists will also compete in qualifying — Nadia Podoroska and Tamara Zidansek, who made the last four at Roland Garros in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
–IANS
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