With the 2024 U.S. Open beginning Monday, three former Florida women’s tennis players are set to take the court in New York City. Anna Danilina and Ingrid Neel will compete in the doubles tournament with their respective partners, while McCartney Kessler will make her debut in the U.S. Open singles tournament.
Kessler is coming off a victory at the Tennis in the Land tournament Aug. 24, where she secured her first WTA Tour title. After cracking the top 100 singles player rankings two weeks ago, Kessler has now jumped all the way to No. 63 in the world. En route to her Tennis in the Land title, the 25-year-old American defeated three of the top five seeds in the tournament, including No. 21 Beatriz Haddad Maia in the final.
The 2022 SEC Player of the Year and ITA All-American notched 35 victories on the WTA Tour this year. In Kessler’s first U.S. Open main draw, the former Gator will match up against No. 19 Marta Kostyuk in the first round in hopes of building off her momentum.
Kessler will be accompanied by former Florida teammate Anna Danilna at the U.S. Open.
Danilina will compete in the doubles tournament with partner Irina Khromacheva. She will look to build off of her U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament championship in 2023.
The four-time collegiate All-American, Danilina, reached the semifinals in 12 of the WTA Tour doubles events she competed in this year, making six finals appearances. Since January, No. 48 Danilina has won three WTA Tour titles: the ASB Classic, the Open delle Puglie and the UniCredit Iasi Open.
Danilina will begin the U.S. Open in a match against Tyra Caterina Grant and Iva Jovic in the first round.
In addition to Danilina and Kessler, former Gator women’s tennis star Ingird Neel will also be competing in New York. Neel made the finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and the Libéma Open in 2024, winning the latter in June.
The former Gator has 23 doubles victories in the last calendar year and four title wins in her career. Neel and her partner, Ulrikke Eikeri ,will look to expand on these totals in a competitive U.S. Open field, facing Jaqueline Cristian and Angelica Moratelli in the first round.
Kessler will begin singles play Monday at 11 a.m. in her matchup against No. 19 Marta Kostyuk, while Neel and Danilina will take the court for doubles play on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
Contact Noah White at nwhite@alligator.org. Follow him on X @noahwhite1782.
