Aussie Duckworth grabs US Open wildcard

Rising Australian tennis player James Duckworth will make his US Open main-draw debut this month after receiving a wildcard into the final grand slam of the year.

Duckworth on Wednesday was among eight players to receive wildcards, a reward for successfully advancing to the French Open and Wimbledon main draws this year through the gruelling qualifying events.

The 21-year-old is enjoying a career-best ranking of No.150 in the world after also reaching the second round of the Australian Open in January.

On his only previous visit to Flushing Meadows, Duckworth lost in the second round of qualifying last year.

He joins fellow Australians Bernard Tomic, Lleyton Hewitt and Marinko Matosevic in the main draw of the US Open, which gets underway in New York on August 26.

The USTA also granted Americans Brian Baker, Ryan Harrison, Bradley Klahn, Rhyne Williams, Rajeev Ram and Collin Altamirano and Frenchman Guillaume Rufin a wildcard on Wednesday.

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