TALLAHASSEE, FLA. April 23, 2013 – The USTA announced that Florida State University singles player Dominic Cotrone and the doubles team of Benjamin Lock and Andres Bucaro have been awarded wild cards into the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger, a USTA Pro Circuit event, which runs April 27 to May 4.
Cotrone joins former world No.8 Mardy Fish as a wild card in the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge event, the third of three tournaments that players compete for a berth in the French Open next month. American stars Ryan Harrison, Jack Sock and Steve Johnson are also set to compete at the Forestmeadows Tennis Complex.
The 19-year-old Cotrone, a sophomore, is a Bradenton native and had a team-best 10-5 mark in singles this fall in college competition. Cotrone was formerly the No. 1-ranked 18-and-under player in Florida and in 2010 was a finalist at the USTA National Open in Hawaii.
Lock, from Zimbabwe, and Bucaro, from Guatemala, are a sophomore and senior, respectively. The doubles pair is currently ranked No. 58 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Assocation rankings and helped FSU win the doubles point last weekend against conference foe Virginia Tech. The pair went 6-1 in doubles play during the fall season.
Lock, 20, was ranked No. 63 in the junior world rankings and was the top boy in Africa. The 22-year-old Bucaro represented Guatemala in Davis Cup in 2009 and is a former top 150 junior player.
“We love having these college players see how they match up against players that went the pro route,” said Karen Vogter, tournament director. “These are guys they’ve looked up to, so it will be thrilling to watch them compete against each other.”
