A former champion and two past semifinalists are among the entrants into the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship qualifying competition.
A total of 16 players will be vying for four main draw spots during the two-round qualifying event March 29-30, which is free to attend.
Cristian Garin, the 2019 US Clay champion, will return to River Oaks where he has a 10-2 record. In addition to his title run, he also reached the semifinals in 2022 and quarterfinals in 2023. The win in Houston was the first of five ATP titles the Chilean has won.
Both past US Clay semifinalists in the field came through qualifying enroute to the final four – Yannick Hanfmann in 2023 and Daniel Elahi Galan in 2019.
A half dozen Americans will join the qualifying field, including a pair with Texas ties. Fort Worth-native and current Dallas resident Mitchell Krueger will play opening weekend at River Oaks for a sixth time while Eliot Spizzirri, the 2023 National Player of the Year from the University of Texas, will make his ROCC debut.
Other US players in the qualifying field include a pair of NCAA singles champions - Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA, 2016) and Ethan Quinn (Georgia, 2023) – along with Brandon Holt and Nicolas Moreno De Alboran.
Hanfmann and Galan are two of nine players who have gone from qualifying to reach at least the semifinals at US Clay. Fernando Gonzalez recorded the best result as a qualifier, winning the title in 2000. In 2007, Mariano Zabaleta was runner-up after coming through qualifying.
Here is the initial entry list for qualifying:
Rank Name, Country
109 Mackenzie McDonald, USA
110 Yannick Hanfmann, Germany
111 Brandon Holt, USA
113 Arthur Cazaux, France
116 Taro Daniel, Japan
118 Nicolas Moreno De Alboran, USA
121 Alexander Ritschard, Switzerland
123 Daniel Elahi Galan, Colombia
124 Max Purcell, Australia
135 Federico Agustin Gomez, Argentina
137 Ethan Quinn, USA
138 Cristian Garin, Chile
140 Mitchell Kreuger, USA
144 Eliot Spizzirri, USA
The field is subject to change. Two additional players will be added to the field with wild cards.
