Elizabeth Mandlik, Patrick Kypson clinch Australian Open Wild Card Challenges

Elizabeth Mandlik and Patrick Kypson clinched main-draw wild cards into the 2026 Australian Open by finishing first in the women's and men's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.

Mandlik, 24, won the women's Challenge with 166 points, earned from winning the W100 in Edmond, Okla. (100), reaching the semifinals at the W100 in Irapuato, Mexico (39) and the quarterfinals at the WTA 125 in Austin, Texas (27). Mandlik—the daughter of four-time Grand Slam singles champion Hana Mandlikova, who won the Australian Open singles title in 1980 and 1987—previously played in the Australian Open singles main draw in 2023. She also made Grand slam main draw appearances at the 2022 US Open and the 2023 French Open.

Kypson clinched the men's Challenge with one week still left to play. His 247 points—earned in large part from winning Challenger singles titles at the 100 in Sioux Falls, S.D. (100), and at the 125 in Helsinki, Finland (125)—give him an insurmountable lead. Former Challenge leader and second-place Eliot Spizzirri's ranking has risen to No. 87, which will qualify him for direct entry. Kypson, 26, previously won the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge two years ago to make his main draw debut in Melbourne in 2024, and also won the 2023 Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge.

View the full women's and men's standings from throughout the Challenge below.

Kypson claimed the men's wild card by earning the most ranking points earned from a maximum of four events during the five-week window from Oct. 13 through Nov. 10. All indoor and outdoor hard-court and carpet events at the M25 level and above, including ATP Tour and Challenger events, will be included in the Challenge.

Ranking points earned in the main draw and qualifying are counted toward each player's Challenge point total. Should the player with the highest number of Challenge points earn direct entry into the Australian Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. Americans who otherwise earn direct entry into the Australian Open are not eligible.

Standings Update (Nov. 3)

Elizabeth Mandlik reclaimed the lead of the women's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge with one week to play, as all attention now shifts to Austin, Texas, where Mandlik, Claire Liu, Anna Rogers and Mary Stoiana lead the contenders vying for the big points available at the WTA125 event playing out there this week. 

This is the final week of the women's challenge, and the women's wild card will be awarded to the American with the most ranking points earned at a maximum of three tournaments during this five-week window.

Eliot Spizzirri, meanwhile, retook the lead in the men's Challenge last week, and Martin Damm joined he and Kypson as the three contenders with more than 100 Challenge points. Kypson is playing the ATP Challenger 125 in Helsinki this week, while a host of American men look to start a late push at the USTA Pro Circuit ATP Challenger 50 in Knoxville, Tenn.

Standings Update (Oct. 21)

Eliot Spizzirri's run to the quarterfinals at the ATP 250 in Brussels puts him atop the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge men's standings after Week 1. The 23-year-old from Greenwich, Conn., who was a back-to-back ITA National Player of the Year 2023-24 while at Texas, defeated former Top 25 player Botic van de Zandschulp on an indoor hard court to reach his first ATP quarterfinal last week.

Anna Rogers, a former All-American at North Carolina State, debuts on the women's standings in second place after a Week 2 in which she reached the final at the USTA Pro Circuit ITF World Tennis Tour 100 event in Macon, Ga., her first 100-level singles final appearance.