By Sally Milano, USTA.com
Ernesto Escobedo of West Covina, Calif., will make his Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2016 US Open after clinching the USTA Pro Circuit’s US Open Wild Card Challenge.
The 22-year-old finished the challenge with 88 points, earning 80 points for winning the $50,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships in Lexington, Ky., the week of July 25, and then claiming eight points at the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger in Aptos, Calif., last weekend. That kept him in front of Wild Card Challenge runner-up Mitchell Krueger, the runner-up at the $50,000 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger in Binghamton, N.Y., and third-place Frances Tiafoe, who fell to Escobdeo in a third-set tiebreak in the Lexington final.
In addition to his win in Lexington, Escobedo's results this year include qualifying for ATP events in Washington D.C., the Netherlands and Nottingham, Great Britain, where he won his first-round match. He also reached the final at a Challenger event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in April.
Escobedo competed in US Open qualifying in 2014 as a wild card, advancing to the final round, in his only Grand Slam appearance. He also competed in the junior US Open in 2013.
Escobedo is currently ranked No. 207 in the world.
2015 USTA Girls’ 18s champion Sofia Kenin, 17, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., will compete in the US Open main draw for the second consecutive year after winning the women’s US Open Wild Card Challenge.
USTA Player Development awards a US Open main-draw wild card to one American man and one American woman who earn the most ATP World Tour and WTA ranking points in a series of USTA Pro Circuit hard-court events held over the summer.
Click here for the final US Open Wild Card Challenge standings.