Ernesto Escobedo Leads US Open Men’s Wild Card Challenge After Week 3

Usue Arconada Holds onto Women’s Challenge Lead with Two Weeks Remaining

July 29, 2019 – Former world No. 67 Ernesto Escobedo charged into first place in the US Open Men’s Wild Card Challenge by winning the ATP Challenger 90 event in Granby, Canada, on Sunday.

The title was the first since October 2016 for the 23-year-old Los Angeles native, who overtook Sebastian Korda to lead the men’s standings, 100-65. Escobedo competed in US Open qualifying last year and played in the main draw in 2016-17, reaching the second round in 2016. 

Usue Arconada remains in the lead of the Women’s Challenge but cannot extend her lead this week, as she represents the U.S. in the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Click here to view the full Challenge standings.

Both wild cards will go to the American with the highest cumulative total of ATP or WTA singles ranking points earned from their best three results during the five-week window. Should the player with the highest number of Challenge points earn direct entry into the US Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. In the event of a tie, the player with the best ATP or best WTA singles ranking on August 12 will earn the wild card.

The US Open Wild Card Challenge will consist of these remaining events:

Men’s Events

• Week of July 29: Citi Open ATP 500 (Washington, D.C.); ATP Tour 250 (Los Cabos, Mexico); ATP Challenger Tour 110 (Chengdu, China), 90 (Segovia, Spain), and 80 (Lexington, Ky.)
• Week of August 5: Rogers Cup ATP Masters 1000 (Montreal); ATP Challenger Tour 90 (Aptos, Calif.) and 80 (Yokkaichi, Japan)

Women’s Events

• Week of July 29: Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic WTA Premier (San Jose); Citi Open WTA International (Washington, D.C.); ITF World Tennis Tour W60 (Lexington, Ky.)
• Week of August 5: Rogers Cup WTA Premier (Toronto); ITF World Tennis Tour W60 (Landisville, Pa.)

All USTA Pro Circuit tournaments will be streamed live on www.procircuit.usta.com. This is the eighth consecutive year the USTA has used a wild card challenge format to award US Open wild cards for American players. Previous US Open Wild Card Challenge winners (and how they did at that year’s US Open) are below:

2018: Bradley Klahn (1R), Asia Muhammad (1R)

2017: Tommy Paul (1R), Sofia Kenin (3R)

2016: Ernesto Escobedo (2R), Sofia Kenin (1R)

2015: Bjorn Fratangelo (1R), Samantha Crawford (1R)

2014: Wayne Odesnik (1R), Nicole Gibbs (3R)

2013: Bradley Klahn (2R), Shelby Rogers (1R)

2012: Steve Johnson (3R), Mallory Burdette (3R)

The 2019 US Open main draw will be held August 26 to September 8.