NEW YORK (AP) -- The three highest-ranked players who lost in the final round of qualifying gained spots in the U.S. Open main draw as ``lucky losers.''

Olivier Rochus of Belgium, Jens Knippschild of Germany and John van Lottum of the Netherlands replaced three players who withdrew from the main draw because of injuries.

Argentina's Mariano Zabaleta had a sprained ankle, as did Ukraine's Andrei Medvedev, while France's Nicolas Escude withdrew because of continuing illness.

There is one ``lucky loser'' in the women's draw, Sandra Nacuk of Yugoslavia.

ALREADY A WINNER

There are ``lucky losers'' and then there is Cedric Kauffmann.

A student-athlete at the University of Kentucky and native of France, Kauffmann was the second alternate to gain a spot in the U.S. Open qualifying.

When the first alternate, Karsten Braasch, reported 15 minutes late for Monday's sign-in, however, Kauffmann moved up a spot. Then fellow Frenchman Gregory Carraz pulled out of the competition with an injury, putting Kauffmann into the qualifying.

Given the chance, Kauffmann proceeded to beat Marcus Ondruska, Marc-Kevin Goellner and Mark Knowles to earn a main-draw berth, where his first-round opponent will be another Frenchman, Arnaud Di Pasquale.

SUCCESSFUL AFFAIR

The Arthur Ashe Kids' Day presented by Aetna raised more than $500,000 for charity.

The U.S. Tennis Association and the Arthur Ashe Foundation contributed $400,000 from the proceeds to the USA Tennis National Junior Tennis League, and another $122,000 was donated to various player charities through the American Express Skills Challenge.

The USTA said a crowd of 20,838 in Arthur Ashe Stadium and thousands more on the grounds of the National Tennis Center on Saturday attended the fifth annual Arthur Ashe Kids' Day, a day-long festival of tennis exhibitions, clinics, fun and games, and musical entertainment.

Participating in the event were musical group 98 Degrees, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Chevy Chase, Alec Baldwin, Mark McEwen, Grant Hill, Pete Sampras, Martina Hingis, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Todd Martin, Lindsay Davenport, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Luke and Murphy Jensen, Jennifer Capriati, Alexandra Stevenson, Scott Gomez, Manny Malhotra, Trent Tucker and Stephon Marbury, among others.

Arthur Ashe Kids' Day honors the late tennis star and continues his mission of promoting education and bringing the sport of tennis to children.

AMBASSADOR HINGIS

In her role as the World Health Organization's Goodwill Ambassador for Polio Eradication, Martina Hingis, the top seed in women's singles, gave a special tennis clinic to 30 children at the National Tennis Center.

Each child at Saturday's event represented one of the world's remaining polio-endemic countries.

The event is part of Hingis' ``Match Point Against Polio'' campaign.