Ernesto Escobedo

Ernesto Escobedo
Escobedo at the 2022 French Open
Country (sports) United States (2014–2022)  Mexico (2023–present)
ResidenceWest Covina, California, USA
Born (1996-07-04) July 4, 1996 (age 28)
Los Angeles, California, USA
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro2014
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,246,749
Singles
Career record20–41
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 67 (17 July 2017)
Current rankingNo. 446 (29 July 2024)[1]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (2017)
French Open1R (2017)
Wimbledon1R (2017)
US Open2R (2016, 2020, 2021)
Doubles
Career record1–5
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 340 (28 February 2022)
Current rankingNo. 340 (28 February 2022)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open2R (2017)
US Open1R (2020)
Last updated on: 29 July 2024.

Ernesto "Neto" Escobedo III (/ˈnɛt ˌɛskəˈbd/ NET-oh ES-kə-BAYD-oh;[2] Spanish: [eɾˈnesto ˈneto eskoˈβeðo],[3] born July 4, 1996) is a Mexican-American professional tennis player who has won four ATP Challenger titles. He is currently the No. 2 Mexican player.[4]

Personal life

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Escobedo began playing tennis at the age of 4. His father Ernesto Jr. briefly played professional tennis, and his aunt Xóchitl Escobedo was a Top 300 player who competed in the 1988 Olympics.[5] He is of Mexican descent.[6] Escobedo's cousin Emilio Nava is also a professional tennis player.[7]

Career

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2016: Major debut & first win at the US Open, multiple Challenger titles, Top 200

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Escobedo reached his first ATP Challenger final at São Paulo in April 2016 to advance him to a career-high ranking inside the top 300. With that success, he became the seventh American teenager to reach a Challenger final in the previous seven months.[8]

He won his first career ATP match at the Aegon Open in Nottingham against top 100 player Diego Schwartzman shortly before turning 20 years old. The next month, he won his first Challenger title at Lexington over fellow up-and-coming American Frances Tiafoe. With this victory, he also won the 2016 US Open Wild Card Challenge to earn a wildcard into the main draw of the final Grand Slam of the year.[9] Escobedo put this wildcard to good use by defeating Lukáš Lacko in the first round to crack the Top 200 for the first time and record his first career Grand Slam match win.[10]

Towards the end of the season, Escobedo returned to Monterrey where he had made the semifinals the previous year, and defended his points by winning the title over Denis Kudla.

2017: Australian Open second round, Masters 1000 debut, Top 100

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Escobedo at the 2017 French Open

To start the year, Escobedo continued to improve upon his success from 2016. He qualified for the Australian Open and then won his first round match against fellow NextGen player Daniil Medvedev.

The following month, he was awarded a wildcard into the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, an ATP 500 event in Acapulco. At this tournament, he again won first round match over fellow American Stefan Kozlov.

In March, Escobedo was able to qualify for his first Masters event at the 2017 Miami Open, where he upset No. 43 Dan Evans to break through into the top 100 of the ATP rankings.[11] To start the clay court season, Escobedo played at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston and reached his first career ATP quarterfinal and semifinal, climbing to a then career-high ranking of No. 73 with this success. His tournament was highlighted by a quarterfinal win over No. 2 seed and fellow American John Isner.[12]

Escobedo was part of the NextGen players that included many fellow Americans such as Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz who were considered the best young prospects to become the next generation of tennis stars.[13]

2018: First top 10 and Masters wins

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In February, Escobedo was able to qualify for the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco. He defeated top-ranked American Jack Sock in the first round for his first Top 10 win, continuing his success at tournaments in Mexico.[14] In March, Escobedo was given a wildcard for the first time to the main draw of the 2018 Indian Wells Masters where he defeated compatriot Frances Tiafoe, before falling to the 28th seed Feliciano López.[15]

2020–2021: Return to U.S. Open second round in 4 years and to Masters in 3 years

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After the suspension of the 2020 season due to COVID, Escobedo returned to the 2020 US Open as an alternate, replacing Benoit Paire, who tested COVID positive, where he defeated Kamil Majchrzak in the first round.

In March 2021, Escobedo qualified for the 2021 Miami Open and defeated Paolo Lorenzi in the first round before losing to 16th seed Dušan Lajović.

2022: Fourth Challenger title

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Escobedo won the title at the 2022 Bendigo International Challenger in Australia, his first in three years.[16] He entered the 2022 Australian Open as a lucky loser.

2023-2024: Representing Mexico as No. 1 player

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In January 2023, Escobedo stopped representing the United States in favor of representing Mexico in tournaments and became the Mexican No. 1 player. He qualified for the 2023 Australian Open.[17] [18][19]

He received a wildcard for the qualifying draw of the 2023 Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco but lost to Brandon Holt.

He received wildcards for the main draw of the 2024 Los Cabos Open and for the 2024 Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 12 (5–7)

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Legend (singles)
ATP Challenger Tour (4–2)
ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour (1–5)
Titles by surface
Hard (5–6)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Sep 2013 USA F24, Costa Mesa Futures Hard Tunisia Haythem Abid 1–6, 6–4, 5–7
Loss 0–2 Nov 2013 Mexico F19, Mérida Futures Hard United States Nicolas Meister 7–6(7–4), 1–6, 6–7(7–9)
Loss 0–3 May 2015 Mexico F4, Córdoba Futures Hard Barbados Darian King 5–7, 7–5, 4–6
Loss 0–4 Jun 2015 USA F16B, Charlottesville Futures Hard United States Tennys Sandgren 4–6, 4–6
Loss 0–5 Sep 2015 USA F27, Costa Mesa Futures Hard United States Ryan Shane 4–6, 3–6
Loss 0–6 Apr 2016 São Paulo, Brazil Challenger Clay Chile Gonzalo Lama 2–6, 2–6
Win 1–6 Jul 2016 Lexington, USA Challenger Hard United States Frances Tiafoe 6–2, 6–7(6–8), 7–6(7–3)
Loss 1–7 Sep 2016 Cary, USA Challenger Hard Republic of Ireland James McGee 6–1, 1–6, 4–6
Win 2–7 Oct 2016 Monterrey, Mexico Challenger Hard United States Denis Kudla 6–4, 6–4
Win 3–7 Jul 2019 Granby, Canada Challenger Hard Japan Yasutaka Uchiyama 7–6(7–5), 6–4
Win 4–7 Jan 2022 Bendigo, Australia Challenger Hard France Enzo Couacaud 5–7, 6–3, 7–5
Win 5–7 May 2023 M25 Xalapa, Mexico World Tennis Tour Hard United States Aidan Mayo 6–3, 6–4

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (1–0)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jun 2021 Little Rock, USA Challenger Hard Colombia Nicolás Barrientos United States Christopher Eubanks
Ecuador Roberto Quiroz
4–6, 6–3, [10–5]

Singles performance timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Current through the 2023 Los Cabos Open.

 United States Mexico
Tournament 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A 2R Q3 Q1 Q2 Q1 1R 1R 0 / 3 1–3 25%
French Open A A A 1R Q1 A A Q2 Q2 A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Wimbledon A A A 1R A A NH Q1 Q1 A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
US Open Q3 A 2R 1R Q2 1R 2R 2R Q1 A 0 / 5 3–5 38%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–4 0–0 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–1 0 / 10 4–10 29%
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A Q1 Q1 2R A NH 2R A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Miami Open A A A 2R Q2 A NH 2R A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Madrid Open A A A 1R A A NH A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Italian Open A A A 1R A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Canadian Open A A A 2R A A NH A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Cincinnati Masters A A A Q1 A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–4 1–1 0–0 0–0 2–2 0–0 0–0 0 / 7 5–7 42%
Career statistics
Tournaments 0 0 4 15 8 1 1 4 2 2 Career total: 37
Overall win–loss 0–0 0–0 2–4 9–15 3–8 0–1 1–1 5–4 0–2 0–2 0 / 37 20–37 35%
Year-end ranking 538 393 141 120 187 224 198 165 226 405

Wins over top 10 players

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  • He has a 1–0 record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.[20]
Season 2018 Total
Wins 1 1
# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score EER
2018
1. United States Jack Sock 10 Mexican Open, Mexico Hard 1R 7–5, 7–6(7–3) 123

References

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  1. ^ ATP Profile
  2. ^ ATPWorldTour (August 30, 2016). "Escobedo Looks Back On First Grand Slam Win At US Open 2016". YouTube.com. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  3. ^ "The pronunciation by Ernesto Escobedo himself". ATP World Tour. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  4. ^ "Rankings | Pepperstone ATP Rankings (Singles) | ATP Tour | Tennis | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  5. ^ "Ernesto Escobedo grinds out win in Citi Open qualifier". Washington Post. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  6. ^ "Mexican-American Ernesto Escobedo into Semifinals". Monterrey Open. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  7. ^ Rothenberg, Ben (January 26, 2019). "At Australian Open, a Legacy Tracing Back to a Backyard in Mexico". The New York Times. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  8. ^ "Escobedo Becomes Newest Teen To Excel In Challengers". ATP World Tour. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  9. ^ "ESCOBEDO WINS WILD CARD,EARNS BERTH IN US OPEN". usta.com. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  10. ^ "FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT US OPEN WILDCARD ESCOBEDO". tennis.com. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  11. ^ "Dan Evans lost control after losing to Ernesto Escobedo in the Miami Open first round". skysports.com. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  12. ^ "#NextGenATP Escobedo Breaks Through In Houston". ATP World Tour. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  13. ^ "RACE TO MILAN: ERNESTO ESCOBEDO". winstonsalemopen.com. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  14. ^ "Jack Sock: Acapulco loss, early 2018 struggles continue". lobandsmash.com. February 28, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  15. ^ "Escobedo Relishing Indian Wells Moment". ATP World Tour. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  16. ^ "Dominant Down Under: Escobedo, Machac Claim First Challenger Titles Of 2022". ATP World Tour. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  17. ^ "El 'nuevo' mexicano Ernesto Escobedo consigue un sitio en el Abierto de Australia" (in Spanish). ESPN. January 11, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  18. ^ "Shang Juncheng: 17-Year-Old Charges into Australian Open Main Draw | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  19. ^ "What to Expect from the Men's Qualifiers at the 2023 Australian Open". January 14, 2023.
  20. ^ "Ernesto Escobedo – ATP Win/Loss". ATP Tour.
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