Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Jacob Fearnley climbed into the world's top 50 last summer amid injury issues
- Published51 minutes ago
Britons Jacob Fearnley, Toby Samuel, Harry Wendelken and Harriet Dart stand one win away from a place in the US Open main draw after coming through their second round qualifying matches in New York.
Fearnley showed great resilience in battling to a three-set victory over Frenchman Luka Pavlovic, which set up a meeting with Austria's Jurij Rodionov.
The 25-year-old world number 100 recovered from a break of serve down to take the opening set, and held his nerve in the decider after his opponent levelled the match to clinch a 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 win.
Samuel, bidding to qualify for the US Open for the first time, produced a comeback victory against fellow Briton Billy Harris.
The 23-year-old, who made his slam debut at this year's French Open, recovered to win 4-6 6-4 6-1 and set up a meeting with Chile's former top-20 player Cristian Garin.
Wendelken, who has never contested the main draw at an overseas slam, saved a match point to come through a three-hour tussle with Switzerland's Remy Bertola.
The 24-year-old, ranked 196th, appeared on the brink of elimination at a set and 5-2 down, but denied Bertola a match point to level at 5-5 before edging the second-set tie-break.
Wendelken took charge of the decider, establishing a 5-2 lead, but was forced to withstand a late fightback from his opponent before eventually clinching a 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win. He will face Lithuania's Vilius Gaubas next.
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Dart also had to come from behind to maintain her bid in the women's draw.
The 77th-ranked Dart, 30, dominated the final two sets against American 16-year-old Kristina Penickova to progress 5-7 6-0 6-3 and could meet fellow Briton Heather Watson or Spain's Angela Fita Boluda.
Fran Jones, up against Germany's Mona Barthel, and Katie Swan, taking on American Mary Stoiana, will also aim to reach the third and final qualifying round on Wednesday.
However, Jack Pinnington Jones took the opening set but eventually fell to a 2-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 defeat by Finland's Otto Virtanen.
Former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov will face Virtanen after the 35-year-old maintained his bid for a 15th appearance in the US Open men's singles draw with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 win against Kazakhstan's Timofey Skatov.
China's two-time US Open quarter-finalist Zheng Qinwen, contesting a Grand Slam qualifying event for the first time since the 2022 Australian Open, won 6-1 7-5 against France's Clara Burel to set up a match against Russian Elena Pridankina.
There was also victory for 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who defeated Ukraine's Veronika Podre 6-0 6-3.
The 26-year-old will have to find a way past Slovenia's 2021 French Open semi-finalist Tamara Zidansek to secure a first US Open main draw appearance in two years.
