BINGHAMTON, July 6, 2016 –

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced that Binghamton’s Recreation Park will host the 23rd Levene Gouldin & Thompson (LG&T) $50,000 Tennis Challenger, July 18-24. The tournament, a USTA Pro Circuit event, is one of the oldest events on the ATP Challenger Tour.

The Levene Gouldin & Thompson Challenger will once again be part of the US Open Wild Card Chal-lenge. The USTA will be awarding one men’s singles main draw wild card to the 2016 US Open based on performance in a series of USTA Pro Circuit events. The wild card will be awarded to the American player with the highest total of cumulative singles main draw ATP ranking points from the LG&T Challenger as well as tournaments in Lexington, Kentucky and Aptos, California.

The field for the Levene Gouldin & Thompson $50,000 Challenger will feature 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams. Players ranked as high as No. 50 in the world typically compete in Challenger-level events. The qualifying tournament, beginning July 16, will determine the final four singles players in the field.

A press conference announcing the tournament’s commencement will be held on Wednesday, July 13 at 1 pm at Binghamton’s Recreation Park. Binghamton Mayor Rich David and Tournament Director Laurie Bowen will be on-hand to discuss the upcoming events.

The USTA Pro Circuit event also featured a wild-card tournament at the Binghamton Tennis Center, June 10-12, which awarded the champions of the singles and doubles draw a spot in the LG&T Challenger qualifying tournament.

Artem Khrapko (Corning, NY) won the 27-player clay-court singles tournament advancing into the qualify-ing draw at the LG&T Tennis Challenger. Khrapko, a rising-junior at Davidson College, is a two-time Atlantic-10 all-conference selection and the Wildcats’ No. 2 singles player. He was part of the duo who won the doubles draw at last year’s BTC Clay Court Tournament. William Mendler (Towanda, Pa.) and Nicholas Zieziula (Binghamton, NY) won this year’s doubles draw in straight sets, advancing to the qualifying draw at the LG&T Challenger. Zieziula currently serves as the head men’s tennis coach at Binghamton Univer-sity.

The Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger features 32 singles players and a 16-team doubles field. The tournament is held at Recreation Park, 73 Beethoven Street in Binghamton. Admission to the tournament is free July 16-17, and $3 July 18-22 and $6 July 23-24. Tournament passes are available for $25. For tickets or sponsorship information, visit binghamtonchallenger.com.

2016 Entry List