NEW YORK: Former US Open champion Stan Wawrinka and former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka have received wild cards for this year’s final Grand Slam tournament.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, another US Open champion, also was given a wild card on Tuesday by the US Tennis Association.

Wawrinka did not defend his 2016 title, pulling out of the 2017 tournament because of a knee injury that has dropped his ranking from No. 3 to No. 151.

Azarenka has twice won the Australian Opens and twice been a US Open runner-up. She didn’t play in Flushing Meadows last year because of custody dispute. She is ranked No. 87, one spot ahead of Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion.

The tournament begins from Aug 27.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2018