# McCartney Kessler

McCartney Kessler (born 8 July 1999) is an American tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 47 in singles, achieved on 13 January 2025, and No. 180 in doubles, set on 8 April 2024. Kessler has won two WTA Tour titles.

## Early life

From Calhoun, Georgia, her parents, Carl Kessler and Julie Driggers, played collegiate tennis at University of Central Florida. She has an older sister Mackenzie and an older brother McClain Kessler, who also 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 the W100 title in Landisville, Pennsylvania, she reached the top 100 on 12 August 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: Hobart title, top 50

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 13 January 2025.
In February, at the Dubai Tennis 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, but despite losing to top seed Jessica Pegula, returned to the top 50, at world No. 48 on 3 March 2025. 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.

## WTA Tour finals
### Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

* Legend
* Grand Slam (0–0)
* WTA 1000 (0–0)
* WTA 500 (0–0)
* WTA 250 (2–1)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (2–1)
* Clay (0–0)
* Grass (0–0)
* Finals by setting
* Outdoor (2–1)
* Indoor (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Aug 2024 | Tennis in the Land, United States | WTA 250 | Hard | Beatriz Haddad Maia | 1–6, 6–1, 7–5 |
| Win | 2–0 | Jan 2025 | Hobart International, Australia | WTA 250 | Hard | Elise Mertens | 6–4, 3–6, 6–0 |
| Loss | 2–1 | Mar 2025 | ATX Open, United States | WTA 250 | Hard | Jessica Pegula | 5–7, 2–6 |

### Doubles: 1 (runner-up)

* Legend
* Grand Slam (0–0)
* WTA 1000 (0–0)
* WTA 500 (0–0)
* WTA 250 (0–1)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (0–1)
* Clay (0–0)
* Grass (0–0)
* Finals by setting
* Outdoor (0–1)
* Indoor (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Mar 2025 | ATX Open, United States | WTA 250 | Hard | Zhang Shuai | Anna Blinkova Yuan Yue | 6–3, 1–6, [4–10] |

## WTA Challenger finals
### Singles: 1 (title)

| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Feb 2024 | Puerto Vallarta Open, Mexico | Hard | Taylah Preston | 5–7, 6–3, 6–0 |

## ITF Circuit finals
### Singles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

* Legend
* W100 tournaments (1–0)
* W60/75 tournaments (2–0)
* W15 tournaments (0–1)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (3–1)
* Clay (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Oct 2021 | ITF Lubbock, United States | W15 | Hard | Adriana Reami | 6–7$^{(6–8)}$, 1–6 |
| Win | 1–1 | Oct 2023 | Georgia's Rome Open, US | W60 | Hard (i) | Grace Min | 6–2, 6–1 |
| Win | 2–1 | Jan 2024 | Georgia's Rome Open, US | W75 | Hard (i) | Liv Hovde | 6–4, 6–1 |
| Win | 3–1 | Aug 2024 | Landisville Tennis Challenge, US | W100 | Hard | Olivia Gadecki | 4–6, 6–2, 6–4 |

### Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner–ups)

* Legend
* W60 tournaments (2–1)
* W25 tournaments (0–1)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (1–2)
* Clay (1–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Apr 2023 | ITF Jackson, US | W25 | Clay | Jaeda Daniel | Allura Zamarripa Maribella Zamarripa | 1–6, 6–1, [10–5] |
| Loss | 1–1 | Jun 2023 | ITF Sumter, US | W60 | Hard | Yuliia Starodubtseva | Maria Mateas Anna Rogers | 4–6, 7–6$^{(7–3)}$, [6–10] |
| Loss | 1–2 | Jul 2023 | Evansville Classic, US | W60 | Hard | Yuliia Starodubtseva | Maria Kononova Veronika Miroshnichenko | 3–6, 6–2, [8–10] |
| Win | 2–2 | Sep 2023 | ITF Templeton Pro, US | W60 | Hard | Alana Smith | Jaeda Daniel Jessie Aney | 7–5, 6–4 |