New York | No British women among US Open qualifiers

Britain’s Lily Miyazaki and Sorana Kartal fell at the last hurdle of qualifying for the US Open on Thursday as the 16 women players landed their spots in the main draw at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

Miyazaki, the British No 4, had held hopes of bettering her 2nd-round performance in the main draw from 2023, but she lost to Eva Lys, the 9th seed, 6-1 6-2, in just 61 minutes, and the German moves on to meet Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic in round 1.

British No 5 Kartal, who reached the 3rd-round at Wimbledon earlier this summer in a run that included a win over 29th seed Sorana Cirstea, lost to Yulia Starodubtseva, 2-6 6-3 6-3, and the Ukrainian meets Victoria Azarenka, the No 20 seed from Belarus, next.

Despite picking up the first set, Kartal was unable to maintain her momentum and eventually succumbed after a minute short of 2 hours, which brought her bid to make the main draw of the US Open for the first time to an end.

No 2 qualifying seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich from Belarus found her way past Turkey’s Zeynap Sonmez, 6-3 7-6(7), and faces Britain’s Katie Boulter, the No 31 seed, in the main draw, but top seed Kamila Rakhimova from Russia was edged out, 7-6(4) 6-7(2) 6-4, by Australia’s Priscilla Hon.

26-year-old Hon, ranked 205, prevailed against the World No 104 in a 2 hour 47 minute battle that sees the Aussie’s best Grand Slam-level win since Australian Open 2020.

Nevertheless, Rakhimova reached the main draw by virtue of being the first-drawn lucky loser out of the hat, following the withdrawal of Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, who pulled out due to a right shoulder injury minutes after the singles draw had been made on Thursday.

Jabeur’s seeded spot was subsequently filled by the next highest-ranked player eligible to be seeded, which was Belgium’s Elise Mertens, who becomes the No 33 seed, and she will now take on Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova in the opening round.

Mertens’ previous spot in the draw subsequently was filled by lucky loser Rakhimova, who meets World No 1 Iga Swiatek in the 1st-round, while Hon takes on 2nd-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in her opener.

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Hon was among 5 Australian women to qualify, which is a new record for the nation and almost triples the previous one of two, between 2009 and 2014.

Arina Rodionova, Maya Joint, Kimberly Birrell, and Destanee Aiava also made it through, boosting the total number of Australians in this year’s singles main draws to 20 – 8 women and 12 men.

Rodionova is the only player to have previously completed a successful qualifying campaign at a Grand Slam tournament, but it is the first time the 34-year-old has achieved the feat at the US Open.

The World No 118, who last qualified at a major tournament at Wimbledon 2019, scored a 6-4 6-2 win against Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew, and will meet China’s Wang Xinyu.

Joint scored the biggest win of her burgeoning Grand Slam career, triumphing, 6-2 6-1, against Hailey Baptiste, an American ranked 106, in a swift 52 minutes, which earns the promising 18-year-old a Grand Slam main-draw debut when she meets Laura Siegemund from Germany.

26-year-old Birrell, who fell at the final stage in qualifying at last year’s US Open, secured her main-draw spot with a 6-3 6-3 win against 15-year-old American wild-card Julieta Pareja, and will play Donna Vekic, the 20th seed from Croatia, in her opener.

World No 180 Aiava powered past Croatian Ana Konjuh, 6-3 6-2, needing only 69 minutes to dismiss the former Top 20 player and US Open 2016 quarter-finalist.

This was 24-year-old Aiava’s 3rd straight-sets win this week, and she moves on to play 4th-seeded Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan.

Gabriela Ruse claimed her spot in the main draw after defeating 19-year-old Alexandra Eala after 2 hours and 8 minutes on court

Elsewhere, Romania’s Gabriela Ruse claimed her spot after defeating 19-year-old Alexandra Eala from the Philippines, 3-6 6-1 6-4, after 2 hours and 8 minutes, firing 5 aces and scoring 38 winners, compared to Eala’s 17, but she also produced 8 double-faults and 36 unforced errors.

Ruse has never made it past the 2nd-round of the US Open, losing in the opening round last year, and will test herself again against Austria’s Julia Grabher.

Other qualifiers include Jessika Ponchet from France, who squeaked past American Elizabeth Mandlik, 7-5 7-6(5); Argentine Solana Sierra, a 6-1 7-6(4) 6-1 winner over Usue Maitaine Arconada from the USA; American Ann Li, who beat Croatia’s Lea Boskovic, 7-5 6-3; Spain’s Marina Bassols Ribera, the 12th qualifying seed, defeating Australia’s Talia Gibson, 6-3 6-4; Varvara Lepchenko from the USA, who saw off Greek Despina Papamichail, 6-3 6-3; and Japan’s Nao Hibino sweeping past Korea’s Su Jeong Jang, 1-6 6-2 6-0.