The Raleigh Women’s Challenger returns to Raleigh, May 6-13, for the fifth consecutive year and eighth overall. It is offering $25,000 in prize money for the first time since 2008 after offering $50,000 the last three years; it is the final clay-court USTA Pro Circuit women’s event prior to the 2012 French Open and the last clay-court USTA Pro Circuit women’s event until mid-June. It is also the only USTA Pro Circuit event for either men or women held in the state of North Carolina.

Those players entered in the main draw this week include: Grace Min, the 2011 US Open girls’ singles champion, who trains full-time at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., and who won the first women’s USTA Pro Circuit title of 2012 in Innisbrook, Fla., and reached the final at the $25,000 event in Clearwater, Fla., in March; Julia Cohen, the highest ranked U.S. player in the field, who earned All-American honors at both the universities of Florida and Miami and who reached the semifinals of two of the last three $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit women’s events; and former US Open girls’ runner-up Alexa Glatch, who qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon in 2011, and ho propelled the U.S. to the 2009 Fed Cup final by winning two of the U.S.’s three points in its semifinal victory against the Czech Republic.

Also in the main draw are: Ashley Weinhold, the 2007 USTA Girls’ 18s national champion, who won her second career professional title in 2011 at the $25,000 event in Rancho Mirage, Calif.; former Top 20 player Alexandra Stevenson, who reached the semifinals of Wimbledon as a qualifier in 1999; and Alexandra Mueller, who won the inaugural US Open National Playoffs in 2010 to earn a wild card into the 2010 US Open Qualifying Tournament.

Those players receiving main draw wild cards include: Alison Riske, who qualified for the 2012 Australian Open, and who, in 2011, reached the quarterfinals at the WTA event in Birmingham, England, and competed in the main draws at the US Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon; and current University of Pennsylvania standout Chieh-Yu (Connie) Hsu, who won three ITF Circuit titles in 2011 with victories in Taiwan and Turkey.

Americans competing in qualifying include: Asia Muhammad, who reached the quarterfinals of $50,000 events here and in Boston in 2011, and who learned tennis at the Andre Agassi Boys and Girls Club in Las Vegas; Alexandra Kiick, the daughter of former Miami Dolphin Jim Kiick, who won her first professional title in 2011 at the $10,000 event in Amelia Island, Fla., and who captured the prestigious International Spring Championships junior title last month; Beatrice Capra, a standout freshman at Duke University who reached the third round of the 2010 US Open after winning a USTA playoff to earn a wild card into the main draw; and Kyle McPhillips, who won her first professional title in 2011 at the $10,000 event in her hometown of Cleveland, and who will play collegiately at UCLA in the fall. Many current WTA and USTA Pro Circuit standouts have competed in Raleigh. 2009 singles champion Melanie Oudin used her victory in Raleigh as a springboard to her breakthrough summer that year, where she defeated former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic en route to the fourth round at Wimbledon and upset former US Open runnerup Elena Dementieva as well as three-time Grand Slam tournament singles champion Maria Sharapova en route to the quarterfinals of the US Open. Oudin also won the 2011 US Open Mixed Doubles title with fellow young American Jack Sock. 2008 Raleigh singles champion Chelsey Gullickson won the 2010 NCAA Division I singles title to become the University of Georgia’s first NCAA women’s singles champion since 1994. In turn, she received a wild card into the 2010 US Open, where she faced No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the first round. Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs, the 2010 doubles champions, are now teammates and standout players at Stanford University.