McCartney Kessler

McCartney Kessler (born July 8, 1999) is an American tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 32 in singles, and No. 152 in doubles, achieved on March 31, 2025. Kessler has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour.

Early life

From Calhoun, Georgia, her parents, Carl Kessler and Julie Kessler (Driggers), played collegiate tennis at University of Central Florida. She has an older sister Mackenzie, who played club tennis at the University of Central Florida, and an older brother McClain Kessler, who played collegiate tennis at Florida.

Kessler attended Calhoun High School.

College

Kessler signed on to the University of Florida on a tennis scholarship to play collegiate tennis for the Florida Gators in November 2017. At Florida, she was a three-time All-American and three-time First Team All-SEC player. She also earned the 2022 SEC Player of the Year Award, becoming the ninth player from University of Florida to earn the award.

Career

Juniors

Kessler won the U16 doubles title at the Orange Bowl with Emma Kurtz in 2015.

2024: Major & WTA Tour debuts and first title

Kessler made her WTA Tour debut at the Auckland Open after qualifying. She lost in the first round to Lulu Sun.

For her major debut, she received a wildcard for the Australian Open, after winning the USTA's Wild Card Challenge, and reached the second round, recording her first major match win over qualifier Fiona Ferro. She lost in the second round to Linda Nosková.
In February, she won the biggest title of her career to that date at the WTA 125 in Puerto Vallarta, defeating Taylah Preston in the final.

In March, she received a wildcard from the Indian Wells Open making there her WTA 1000 debut, losing to Nuria Párrizas Díaz in the first round. In April, she entered the main draw of the WTA 500 Charleston Open as a lucky loser, making her debut at this level. She lost in the first round to Caroline Wozniacki.

Kessler qualified for the Wimbledon, making her debut at this Grand Slam tournament, losing to ninth seed Maria Sakkari in the first round.

Following winning a W100 title in Landisville, Pennsylvania, she reached the top 100 on August 12, 2024.

At the Tennis in Cleveland, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal by defeating fellow wildcard Katrina Scott and fourth seed Wang Xinyu for her first top 50 win. Next, she defeated Arantxa Rus in straight sets. Kessler reached her first final with a come-from-behind three set victory over fifth seed Anastasia Potapova, for her second top 50 win, and won her maiden Tour title defeating top seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.

She also received a wildcard for the US Open making her debut at her home slam, losing in the first round to 19th seed Marta Kostyuk.

2025: First title on grass, top 35

Kessler started her season at the Brisbane International, where she defeated Magda Linette, before losing to 15th seed Yulia Putintseva in the second round. The following week, she reached the final at the Hobart International with wins over seventh seed Rebecca Šramková, María Lourdes Carlé top seed Dayana Yastremska and sixth seed Elina Avanesyan. In the championship match, Kessler defeated second seed Elise Mertens in three sets to secure her second career title. As a result, she reached the top 50 at world No. 47 in the WTA singles rankings on January 13, 2025.

In February, at the Dubai Championships, Kessler defeated Amanda Anisimova in the first round and then overcame world No. 3, Coco Gauff, to record her first win against a top-10 ranked player. She lost in the third round to Karolína Muchová in a match which went to a deciding set tiebreak.

Kessler reached the final at the ATX Open and despite losing to top seed Jessica Pegula, she returned to the top 50, at world No. 48. Alongside Zhang Shuai, she was also runner-up in the doubles at the same tournament, losing the championship match to Anna Blinkova and Yuan Yue.

In June at the Nottingham Open, Kessler defeated top seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, Zhu Lin, two-time defending champion Katie Boulter and Rebecca Šramková to make it through to the final. She won the championship match against Dayana Yastremska in straight sets to claim her third WTA title.

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 1 (runner-up)

WTA Challenger finals

Singles: 1 (title)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Wins against top 10 players

*Kessler has a 1–4 record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kessler, McCartney
1999 births
Living people
American female tennis players
Calhoun High School alumni
Florida Gators women's tennis players
Tennis players from Georgia (U.S. state)
21st-century American sportswomen