Billy Harris and three other British players are just one win away from reaching the US Open main draw, but Heather Watson is not among them. Qualifying for the final Grand Slam of the year is well underway with the event at Flushing Meadows getting underway next week.
Harris has never featured in the main draw in New York but is now just one victory away from making the final cut. He secured a comfortable 6-1 6-3 win over Murkel Dellien to give himself a great chance of playing in only the second Grand Slam of his career.
There were also wins for Jan Choinski, Sonay Kartal and Lily Miyazaki. Choinski was a set and a break up when Valentin Vacherot retired from their match with an injury, while Kartal beat Simona Waltert in straight sets and Miyazaki came from behind to defeat Kathinka von Deichmann.
Watson, however, was one of three British players to lose in the second round of US Open qualifying. She was beaten 6-1 6-4 by Belarusian second seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich while Paul Jubb lost 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 to Otto Virtanen.
Francesca Jones also failed to progress, being forced to retire due to an injury while on the brink of defeat in her match against Ena Shibahara.
Jack Draper and Dan Evans are the only British men already in the main draw for the US Open, which gets underway on Monday. Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu and Harriet Dart are on the women’s side of the draw and will be hoping to give a good account of themselves at Flushing Meadows.
Raducanu has been tipped to mount a surprise title challenge by Laura Robson, who believes she will be competitive despite playing just three matches since Wimbledon.
“She’s not a player who needs a huge amount of matches going into a big event,” said Robson earlier this week.
“I think we’ve seen that before, where she might play the week before, just to get some fine-tuning done, but she really enjoys the training block and plays her best tennis when she’s coming off a really strong couple of weeks of practice.”
Robson also talked up Boulter’s hopes of winning the US Open, adding: “She absolutely wants to be the best and has put in so much hard work over the last two years to see that rise in her ranking. At every tournament, it feels like there’s a surprise quarter-finalist or semi-finalist.
“I think that just shows the depth in the game at the moment, but also that you know anything can happen if you’re in the best possible position. If you’ve done the preparation and everything else to get yourself there, then it’s absolutely open.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk