NEWSWIRE

Newport Beach’s Taylor Dent and Kevin Kim of Fullerton each received one of 16 wild-card berths in the main singles draw of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which begins Aug. 30 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., the U.S. Tennis Assn. announced Wednesday.

Dent, 18, played in last year’s U.S. Open, losing to Russia’s Marat Safin in the second round. He has been playing mostly on the USTA Challenger circuit and is ranked 279th in the world.

Kim, 21, played in the 1996 U.S. Open after earning a wild-card spot by winning the USTA boys’ 18 national title. He lost in the first round to David Wheaton. Kim, who played at Sunny Hills High, has been playing well on the Challenger circuit and has his ranking up to 249th.

The USTA awards eight wild-card entries each into the main draws of men’s and women’s singles. Two of the men’s wild cards are taken by the USTA boys’ national champion and the NCAA men’s singles champion.

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Golf

Candie Kung shot a one-under-par 70 Wednesday at Northgate Country Club in Houston to increase her lead to nine shots after two rounds of the Independent Insurance Agent junior Classic.