Several British tennis players are now a single victory away from securing a spot in the main draw of the US Open following successful second-round qualifying matches in New York. The contingent advancing to the final round of qualifiers includes Jacob Fearnley, Toby Samuel, Harry Wendelken, and Harriet Dart.
Fearnley advanced by overcoming France's Luka Pavlovic in a hard-fought three-set encounter. After dropping behind an early service break, the 25-year-old rallied to capture the opening set and held his composure in the decider after his opponent drew level, ultimately closing out a 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 victory. Fearnley will next face Austria's Jurij Rodionov as he pursues a place in the tournament proper.
Samuel also advanced through a three-set battle, staging a comeback against fellow Briton Billy Harris. The 23-year-old, who made his Grand Slam debut earlier this year at the French Open, dropped the opening set before dominating the remainder of the match for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win. He now prepares to meet former top-20 player Cristian Garin of Chile.
Wendelken produced one of the most dramatic turnarounds of the qualifying rounds, erasing a deficit of a set and 5-2 to defeat Switzerland's Remy Bertola. The 196th-ranked Briton saved a match point in the second set before forcing and winning a tie-break, then established an early lead in the decider to seal a 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 triumph. He advances to play Lithuania's Vilius Gaubas.
In the women's qualifying draw, Dart joined her compatriots by overcoming a slow start against American teenager Kristina Penickova. The 30-year-old dropped a tight first set before completely turning the momentum around, conceding only three games across the final two sets to win 5-7, 6-0, 6-3. Dart awaits the winner of the match between fellow Briton Heather Watson and Spain's Angela Fita Boluda.
Additional British hopefuls Fran Jones and Katie Swan are scheduled to compete in their respective second-round qualifying matches. However, Jack Pinnington Jones saw his campaign end despite taking the opening set, falling 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 to Finland's Otto Virtanen.
Elsewhere in the qualifying brackets, former US Open semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov progressed with a straight-sets win over Kazakhstan's Timofey Skatov, setting up a clash with Virtanen. China's Zheng Qinwen and 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu also secured victories to advance within one win of the main tournament.
Reporting based on coverage first published by BBC Sport. Read the original report at BBC Sport.
