Who said Americans can’t or won’t play on clay? With 12 Americans in the singles main draw this week at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, more Americans than ever are playing a loaded clay-court schedule.

And not only are U.S. players showing up on the dirt, but they’re winning. Steve Johnson is through to the Houston final after defeating fellow American Jack Sock, while #NextGenATP American Ernesto Escobedo reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final. In doubles, another #NextGenATP player in Frances Tiafoe reached his first ATP World Tour final with German Dustin Brown.

“I feel like Americans can play on clay. There’s a stereoype that we can’t, but I think it can be our best surface,” said Escobedo. “I grew up in Los Angeles, so there’s maybe only one or two clay courts in the whole city, but I always loved sliding around on it. It teaches you how to be patient, work the point a little bit more. It’s a different game.”

The 2016 season saw Sock finish runner-up in Houston and John Isner record a fourth-round showing at Roland Garros. At the ATP Challenger Tour level last year, Bjorn Fratangelo prevailed in Savannah and was a finalist in Bordeaux, while Jared Donaldson and Tiafoe finished runner-up in Savannah and Tallahassee, respectively. And in doubles, Americans won ATP World Tour doubles titles in Houston, Barcelona, Rome (all Bryan/Bryan), Estoril (Butorac/Lipsky) and Geneva (Johnson/Querrey).

“There were plenty of clay courts growing up in Florida, so I played a ton on it. It was actually my main surface to hit on,” said #NextGenATP American Reilly Opelka. “Some clay courts are a little bit faster as well, so it’s a perfect surface for the Americans.”

However, other Americans said they had far more limited experience on the surface until turning pro. Until recently, the U.S. only held one major junior tournament per year on green clay, a much faster surface compared to red clay. Many had never played on red dirt until they began to compete internationally, but quickly realised it was a surface they would need to excel on.

“I didn’t really know what to do [on red clay] at first. But when I started playing doubles with Simon Stadler, he solely wanted to play on clay, so I had to start getting used to it,” said 35-year-old Nicholas Monroe. “Eventually I stopped overthinking the movement on the surface, started focusing more on our game plan out there and ended up having fun on it.”

Learning how to become versatile, all-surface players is a large part of why many Americans are now at or near career-high Emirates ATP Rankings, including Donald Young, Ryan Harrison, Sock, Donaldson, Tiafoe and Escobedo. As the ATP World Tour moves to Europe next week for a long stretch of clay-court tournaments, beginning on Sunday with the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, it’s a part of the season they not only embrace, but believe can benefit them for the rest of the year.

“We have to do well on clay to get our ranking where we want it. It’s a long, important part of the season,” said Young. “You have a Grand Slam, three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, some 500-level events. If you can do well on it, it can set your whole year up and not put so much pressure on the American summer events. And it helps you with all aspects of your game, different spins, movement. It’s a great building block for the rest of the season.”

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following match-ups & vote for the players you think will win! 
Goffin vs Darcis  |  Mayer vs Sousa

European Clay Court Circuit Commences: The European clay court circuit begins with the third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the season as the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters gets underway Sunday at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. This is the first of three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments played on clay (Madrid, Rome).

The outstanding field features seven of the Top 10 (four of the Top 5) in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Overall, there are 14 of the Top 20 in the 56-player draw. There are three former champions in the field: Rafael Nadal (2005-12, 2016), Novak Djokovic (2013, 2015) and Stan Wawrinka (2014).

Big Four Domination: The ‘Big Four’ of Andy Murray, Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer have won 58 of the past 63 Masters 1000 tournaments going back to Nadal’s triumph at Monte-Carlo in 2010. The only other players to emerge with a Masters 1000 title during that time are Robin Soderling (2010 Paris), David Ferrer (2012 Paris), Stan Wawrinka (2014 Monte-Carlo), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2014 Toronto) and Marin Cilic (2016 Cincinnati).

Here is a breakdown of the Masters 1000 titles won by the Big Four during that span: Djokovic (25), Nadal (13), Federer (10) and Murray (10). The foursome are also among the Top 5 in Masters 1000 titles: 1) Djokovic 30, 2) Nadal 28, 3) Federer 26, 4) Agassi 17, 5) Murray 14.

Murray, Djokovic Back in Action: World No. 1 Murray and No. 2 Djokovic return to the ATP World Tour after missing Miami with elbow injuries. Both players have 12-3 match records on the season with one title. Murray won in Dubai (d. Verdasco) and Djokovic opened the year with a repeat title in Doha (d. Murray).

Both are coming off early exits in their last tournament in Indian Wells where Murray lost to Vasek Pospisil in the second round on 12 March and Djokovic fell to Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round on 15 March.

Last year Murray returned to Monte-Carlo for the first time since 2013, and he lost to Nadal in the semi-finals for the third time (2009, 2011). The Scot has a 14-8 match record in Monte-Carlo, where he is the top seed for the first time.

Last season Murray won a personal-best 18 matches on clay (18-3), capturing the Rome title and reaching finals at Madrid and Roland Garros. Over the past two years, Murray is 35-4 on clay after compiling a 63-37 record from 2005-14. He is two wins from 100 career clay court match wins.

Djokovic is playing in Monte-Carlo for the 11^th time in 12 years (except 2011), and he has a 28-8 record, capturing titles in 2013 (d. Nadal) and 2015 (d. Berdych) while reaching finals in 2009 and 2012 (l. to Nadal both). He has a 13-2 record since 2013 after starting out 15-6.

Last year he lost in the second round (bye) to Jiri Vesely in three sets, his first opening match exit since 2006 debut (l. to Federer in 1R). Djokovic has compiled clay records of 16-1 in 2015 and 16-2 last year as he won the Mutua Madrid Open and Roland Garros while reaching the final in Rome.

Rafa Mr. April: Nadal’s most productive month is April with 17 of his 69 career titles followed by May (12), June (11) and July (7). Nadal has a 58-4 career record in Monte-Carlo with a tournament record nine titles. He won eight titles in a row from 2005-12 and his 46-match winning streak ended with a runner-up in 2013.

Last year he won his ninth title (d. Monfils). Nadal comes in with a 19-5 match record on the season with three runner-up showings: Australian Open (l. to Federer), Acapulco (l. to Querrey) and Miami (l. to Federer). This is the sixth time since 2005 Nadal enters Monte-Carlo without an ATP World Tour title on the season.

In the five previous times he captured his first title of the year in Monte-Carlo: 2008, 2010-11-12 and last year. Nadal, who compiled a 21-4 clay court record last season with titles in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, has the best clay court winning percentage (.915) in the Open Era. His first match will be the 400^th of his career on clay (365-34).

Clay Court Titles List: Nadal is tied with Guillermo Vilas for the most clay court titles in the Open Era (since 1968):

No.

1) Rafael Nadal 49

Guillermo Vilas 49

3) Thomas Muster 40

4) Bjorn Borg, Manuel Orantes 30

#NextGenATP Stars: There are five #NextGenATP players in the main draw, led by No. 20 Alexander Zverev. Here’s a look at the talented 21 & under group:

Rank Age Monte-Carlo History

Alexander Zverev No. 20 ₊19 1-1 (2R – 2016)

Karen Khachanov No. 52 20 Main Draw Debut

Daniil Medvedev No. 61 20 Main Draw Debut

Borna Coric (WC) No. 79 20 0-2 (1R – 2015-16)

Casper Ruud (WC) No. 126 18 Main Draw Debut

+Turns 20 on April 20

View Emirates ATP Race To Milan

Milestone Watch: Marin Cilic is four match wins away from 400 in his career and Tomas Berdych is six wins away from becoming the 25^th player in the Open Era with 600 wins. He is five wins away from tying coach Goran Ivanisevic who had 599.

Papa Jo-Wilfried: Two-time Monte-Carlo semi-finalist and top Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is playing his first tournament since becoming a father for the first time with the arrival of his son, Shugar, born on 18 March. Tsonga will turn 32 on Monday.

Tsonga is off to a 17-4 start this season with two ATP World Tour titles (Rotterdam, Marseille). Tsonga, who reached the semi-finals in 2013 and last year, is playing in Monte-Carlo for the eighth straight year. He has a 14-7 record.

Harrison Newlywed: Playing for the first time in Monte-Carlo is extra special for Ryan Harrison. The 24-year-old American is playing in his first tournament since getting married to Lauren McHale, 31 March in Austin, Texas. McHale’s sister, Christina, plays on the WTA Tour. Harrison won his first ATP World Tour title in Memphis in February and is one of six Americans ranked in the Top 50.

Haas Returns: Former World No. 2 Tommy Haas, the oldest player in the singles draw at 39, returns to Monte-Carlo for the first time since 2008. This past week in Houston the 39-year-old German won his first match since 2015 Wimbledon as he defeated #NextGenATP 19-year-old Reilly Opelka in three sets before losing in the next round in three sets to top American Jack Sock.

Haas became the oldest player to win an ATP World Tour match since Jimmy Connors (42) in 1995 Halle. He is playing in his fifth tournament of the season (1-4). He has a 7-6 record in Monte-Carlo with his best result the QFs in 2002. Haas, who is the tournament director in Indian Wells, has a protected ranking of No. 25.

Infosys ATP World Tour Wins Leaders: Here is a look at this season’s match wins leaders on the ATP World Tour:

W-L Titles

1) Jack Sock 20-6 2

2) Roger Federer 19-1 3

Rafael Nadal 19-5 0

David Goffin 19-7 0

5) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 17-4 0

Grigor Dimitrov 17-5 2

Dominic Thiem 17-8 1

Outstanding Doubles Field: Eight of the Top 10 teams in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings are entered in the draw, led by top seeds and Australian Open champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers. The defending champions are Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who are the No. 2 seeds. They defeated Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 4-6, 6-0, 10-6. Here is a look at the Top 8 teams entered: Kontinen/Peers, Lukasz Kubot & Marcelo Melo, Raven Klaasen & Rajeev Ram, Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares, Jean-Julien Rojer & Horia Tecau, Ivan Dodig & Marcel Granollers, Herbert/Mahut, Pablo Carreno Busta & Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Former Champions in Draw: Reigning champions Herbert/Mahut are the only team to win the title playing together this year. Five-time champion Nenad Zimonjic, who is playing for the 17^th time in the Past 18 years (except 2003), leads a list of five other players who have won the title:

— Nenad Zimonjic (5): 2004 (w/Henman), 2005 (w/Paes), 2009-10 (w/Nestor), 2013 (w/Benneteau)

— Max Mirnyi (2): 2003 (w/Bhupathi), 2006 (w/ Bjorkman)

— Daniel Nestor (2): 2009-10 (w/Zimonjic)

— Julien Benneteau (1): 2013 (w/Zimonjic)

— Pierre-Hugues Herbert (1): 2016 (w/Mahut)

— Nicolas Mahut (1): 2016 (w/Herbert)

Note: Five-time champions (2007, 2011-12, 2014-15) Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan are not in the draw for the first time since 2006. They have a 30-7 record in Monte-Carlo.

Top 10 Singles Players in Draw: There are four Top 10 singles players in the doubles draw. The last Top 10 singles player to win the doubles title was No. 2 Rafael Nadal (w/Robredo) in 2008. No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who is playing doubles in Monte-Carlo for the first time since 2010, leads the group:

No. 2 Novak Djokovic (w/Troicki)

No. 3 Stan Wawrinka (w/Fognini)

No. 8 Marin Cilic (w/Petzschner)

No. 9 Dominic Thiem (w/Kohlschreiber)

ICYMI

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan talk letting their first pet go and that time they got kicked off the practice court. Read More: ATP Firsts

Low-Key Ernesto Escobedo Makes Loud Arrival In Houston. Read More

Stars Turn Out To Benefit Good Cause In Monte-Carlo. Read More

Thomaz Bellucci has certainly worked to reach his first final at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. The Brazilian won his fourth consecutive three-set match on Saturday, ending the dream run of #NextGenATP American Ernesto Escobedo 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals.

Bellucci, who’s making his Houston debut, reaches his first ATP World Tour final of the season and the eighth of his career. The 29-year-old Brazilian will try to win his fifth ATP World Tour title against either top seed Jack Sock or fourth seed Steve Johnson.

“It’s tough to play three sets every day. I didn’t have one day off,” Bellucci said. “I hope to be better tomorrow.”

All four of Bellucci’s titles have come on clay but he hasn’t taken home an ATP World Tour crown since 2015 Geneva. The left-hander made the Quito final last year but fell to Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic.

No matter what happens on Sunday, though, the eighth-seeded Bellucci has surpassed his own expectations by reaching the Houston final. “I didn’t expect to play this well because I came Sunday night. I just practised once before the first round,” he said.

Bellucci won 71 per cent of his first-serve points and didn’t face a break point in the third set against Escobedo. He clinched the one-hour and 55-minute match with a service winner.

Escobedo was trying to reach his first ATP World Tour final. The 20-year-old wild card had never won an ATP World Tour match on clay before this week. He became the youngest American to reach the Houston semi-finals since Andy Roddick in 2003.

“I competed hard this week. It was a great tournament, great atmosphere out there. I learned a lot and can’t wait for the future,” Escobedo said. “I feel like I belong on the ATP [World Tour]. My game is there. I just have to work harder and stay disciplined.”

Escobedo entered the ATP World Tour 250 tournament at a career-high No. 91 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and is projected to move to No. 72 when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Competing this week as the top seeds at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, legendary doubles pairing Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan revealed their first memorable moment on the ATP World Tour, first concert and their unusual pet they had growing up.

First moment I realised I loved tennis
Mike: Probably the first tournament we went to Indian Wells when we were seven years old. We saw Andre Agassi play and he was just hitting the heck out of the ball. He had long hair and the flashy clothes. We went to the Nike store and bought those pink tights, but had the skinniest legs ever so they were still loose on us! We got his autograph and that’s what kind of fired us up to grab a racquet and practise after that.

Bob: When I was six or seven years old and knew the Top 100 players (in the Emirates ATP Rankings) by heart, where they were ranked, where they’re from. We were encyclopedias. We knew who had won every Grand Slam for the past 50 years. We loved it.

First tournament I played
Mike: Our first tournament we ever played was in 1984 at Lake Lindero, California. It was a novice 10-and-under tournament. I still have the trophy. We met in the singles final, but our parents wouldn’t let us play each other, so we took those two trophies home and won the doubles as well. Pretty much played a tournament every weekend after that from then on.

First coach and most important lesson he/she taught me
Bob: Our parents were our coaches growing up and they still help us to this day. They just really stressed sportsmanship. They didn’t worry about the wins and losses, just wanted us to give 110 per cent, be fair and good sports. We try to take that to heart every time we step on the court.

Mike: I remember my mom yanked me off the court once for bad sportsmanship, at a big tournament and in front of everyone. That taught me a lesson to control your emotions on the court and always be a good sport. They never came down on us for losing, only if we were being jerks.

First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour
Bob: When we were 17 years old and got a wild card into the US Open (in 1996). We played the highly seeded team of Patrick Galbraith and Grant Connell. We had our credentials, but nobody actually believed we were players. We got kicked off a practice court, even though it was our hour, because the guy thought we were ball kids… We were intimidated and left. We lost the first set 6-0, but finally got a hold early in the second set and it felt like we had arrived, even though we lost 6-0, 6-4. It was cool to be amongst those guys and in the draw.

Mike: Our first big win was at Indian Wells (in 1999). We got a wild card and beat Patrick Rafter and Jonas Bjorkman, who had just won the Australian Open. That was back when they had bonus points in the rankings, so beating the No. 1 team gave you 50 bonus points. That solidified us in the Top 100 and got us into the French Open, and we’ve played 77 Grand Slams in a row since then.

First autograph or photo I ever got from a famous person
Bob: We would go down to the Great Western Forum to watch the exhibition matches since they had exhibitions there all the time. I think it was McEnroe.

Mike: This was before iPhones and cameras, so it was just autographs! But since then we’ve met four Presidents. George Bush Sr. came to one of our matches in Houston, and then we’ve met George W. Bush. We met Obama at the White House, which was pretty cool. And then we knew Chelsea Clinton from Stanford, so we met Bill at the White House.

First pet
Mike: It was a chicken we called Dick The Chick. We fed it every day and then it finally turned into a rooster. It was waking us up every morning, so we had to let it run away. We took it to a farm and let it spread its wings.

First concert
Mike: It was in 1996. We were pretty sheltered, so we didn’t go to any concerts in high school, but at Stanford we saw Dave Matthews Band at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. We’ve been die-hard Dave fans ever since and seem him about 20 times. We got to meet him, know Boyd Tinsley. We were in the mosh pit, getting jacked around. [Laughs].

Competing this week as the top seeds at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, legendary doubles pairing Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan revealed their first memorable moment on the ATP World Tour, first concert and their unusual pet they had growing up.

First moment I realised I loved tennis
Mike: Probably the first tournament we went to Indian Wells when we were seven years old. We saw Andre Agassi play and he was just hitting the piss out of the ball. He had long hair and the flashy clothes. We went to the Nike store and bought those pink tights, but had the skinniest legs ever so they were still loose on us! We got his autograph and that’s what kind of fired us up to grab a racquet and practice after that.

Bob: When I was six or seven years old and knew the Top 100 players (in the Emirates ATP Rankings) by heart, where they were ranked, where they’re from. We were encyclopedias. We knew who had won every Grand Slam for the past 50 years. We loved it.

First tournament I played
Mike: Our first tournament we ever played was in 1984 at Lake Lindero, California. It was a novice 10-and-under tournament. I still have the trophy. We met in the singles final, but our parents wouldn’t let us play each other, so we took those two trophies home and won the doubles as well. Pretty much played a tournament every weekend after that from then on.

First coach and most important lesson he/she taught me
Bob: Our parents were our coaches growing up and they still help us to this day. They just really stressed sportsmanship. They didn’t worry about the wins and losses, just wanted us to give 110 per cent, be fair and good sports. We try to take that to heart every time we step on the court.

Mike: I remember my mom yanked me off the court once for bad sportsmanship, at a big tournament and in front of everyone. That taught me a lesson to control your emotions on the court and always be a good sport. They never came down on us for losing, only if we were being jerks.

First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour
Bob: When we were 17 years old and got a wild card into the US Open (in 1996). We played the highly seeded team of Patrick Galbraith and Grant Connell. We had our credentials, but nobody actually believed we were players. We got kicked off a practice court, even though it was our hour, because the guy thought we were ball kids. And we did! We were intimidated and left. We lost the first set 6-0, but finally got a hold early in the second set and it felt like we had arrived, even though we lost 6-0, 6-4. It was cool to be amongst those guys and in the draw.

Mike: Our first big win was at Indian Wells (in 1999). We got a wild card and beat Patrick Rafter and Jonas Bjorkman, who had just won the Australian Open. That was back when they had bonus points in the rankings, so beating the No. 1 team gave you 50 bonus points. That solidified us in the Top 100 and got us into the French Open, and we’ve played 77 Grand Slams in a row since then.

First autograph or photo I ever got from a famous person
Bob: We would go down to the Great Western Forum to watch the exhibition matches since they had exhibitions there all the time. I think it was McEnroe.

Mike: This was before iPhones and cameras, so it was just autographs! But since then we’ve met four Presidents. George Bush Sr. came to one of our matches in Houston, and then we’ve met George W. Bush. We met Obama at the White House, which was pretty cool. And then we knew Chelsea Clinton from Stanford, so we met Bill at the White House

First pet
Mike: It was a chicken we called Dick the chick. We fed it every day and then it finally turned into a rooster. It was waking us up every morning, so we had to let it run away. We took it to a farm and let it spread its wings.

First concert
Mike: It was in 1996. We were pretty sheltered, so we didn’t go to any concerts in high school, but at Stanford we saw Dave Matthews Band at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. We’ve been die-hard Dave fans ever since and seem him about 20 times. We got to meet him, know Boyd Tinsley. We were in the mosh pit, getting jacked around. [Laughs].

Exactly one year ago, Borna Coric made a statement on the clay of Marrakech in reaching his second ATP World Tour final. Coric finished runner-up to Federico Delbonis on that day, but the #NextGenATP Croatian will have another shot at the Grand Prix Hassan II title when he faces Philipp Kohlschreiber on Sunday. 

In a battle of former recipients of the ATP Star of Tomorrow Award, presented by Emirates, Coric (2014 winner) downed Jiri Vesely (2013) 6-4, 6-4 in Saturday’s first semi-final. The 20 year old needed one hour and 22 minutes to prevail, firing six aces and saving both break points faced.

“It was a very good match for me,” said Coric. “My best on the clay season so far. I was serving very good, returning very good and moving very good.

“It’s going to be a very tough match tomorrow. I play very good here and we’ll see what’s going to happen. I can only hope to take the next step tomorrow.”

Coric will appear in his third ATP World Tour final, seeking his maiden title. In addition to his run to the final in Marrakech last year, he also finished runner-up to Stan Wawrinka at the Aircel Chennai Open to open the 2016 season. The Croatian is bidding to add a fourth title for the current #NextGenATP contingent, joining Alexander Zverev (St. Petersburg 2016 & Montpellier 2017) and Karen Khachanov (Chengdu 2016).

It will be the third FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter between Coric and Kohlschreiber. They previously battled in both Dubai and Monte-Carlo last year, with the German taking both meetings in straight sets. 

Kohlschreiber advanced to his first final of the season with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-2 win over Benoit Paire on Saturday. The 33 year old emerged victorious after just 62 minutes, claiming four of 14 break chances. He broke Paire’s serve after a marathon 18-point opening game and did not look back from there, eventually converting his second match point with a service winner.

“Against Benoit it is not easy and always tricky,” said Kohlschreiber. “I think I played a very good match and I started well. I managed to stay calm and play very good tennis.

“Borna played the final here last year, so he really likes the conditions. For me, it’s my first final here. I also like the conditions and hopefully we’ll play our best tennis and have a great final.”

Kohlschreiber will appear in his 16th ATP World Tour final and first on African soil. It is his first final outside of his home country of Germany or current hometown of Kitzbuhel since 2013. The World No. 32 is vying for an eighth career title.

Ernesto Escobedo has been quietly rising up the Emirates ATP Rankings for the past year, but the #NextGenATP American made has made plenty of noise this week at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship. 

The 20 year old reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Houston with a hard-hitting game and impressive mental toughness in tight moments. Escobedo prevailed on Friday in a three-hour, three tie-break marathon quarter-final against second seed John Isner. The American remained calm as Isner fought off six match points with big serving. Escobedo finally converted on his seventh with an ace.

Escobedo was ranked outside of the Top 300 just 12 months ago, but is projected to move well inside the Top 80 when the newest rankings are released on Monday.

“I wasn’t winning a lot of matches my first two years on tour, so to have the results come this quickly is a little surprising,” he admitted. “But at the same time, I don’t want to say it surpassed my expectations. This is what I’ve been working for. Now that I’ve won matches lately in Acapulco and Miami and here, I’m really feeling like I belong.”

It may seem surprising that the big-hitting baseliner reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final on red clay, especially since the California native played almost exclusively on hard-courts growing up. However, Escobedo said that not only does his game suit the surface, but that other American players can also produce similar results on the red dirt this year.

“I feel like Americans can play on clay. There’s a stereotype that we can’t, but I think it can be our best surface,” he said. “I grew up in Los Angeles, so there’s maybe only one or two clay courts in the whole city, but I always loved sliding around on it. It teaches you how to be patient, work the point around a little more. It’s a different game.”

Currently No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, Escobedo will move inside the Top 4 on Monday with a semi-final finish in Houston and could climb as high as No. 2 if he reaches the final or wins the tournament. The American is now in solid standing to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and said he’s eager to take part in it.

“It would be so cool to be one of the Top 8 guys and make it there. It’s the first year of the event, but my last chance to qualify since I’m turning 21 this year, so I want to have that experience,” he said. “It’s really going to come down to the wire for those last few spots after the US Open and every match will count.”