By Glenys Furness
- Johanna Konta into 3rd slam of the year
- Kyle Edmund, Brydan Klein fall at the final hurdle
- Naomi Broady ends her winning run
New York, USA – In the final qualifying round the four remaining Brits Johanna Konta, Kyle Edmund, Brydan Klein & Naomi Broady were all aiming to make it to the main draw in Flushing Meadows, here is how their day went.
Konta, seeded three, was facing Tamira Paszek in the final qualifying round. Konta made a good start, 72% of first serves were in, scoring a massive 78% on second serve the British number two secured the only break of the set. Three aces from the Brits racquet also helped to secure the first set 6-4. In the second set the Austrian began the better, as Paszek obtained more break point opportunities on the Brit serve. Only 50% of the Austrian first serve landed in, however Paszek scored 77% of points behind the first serve. This proved to be crucial as the Austrian took the set 6-3. The final set saw Konta obtaining more break point opportunities on the Austrian service games, and the Brit took her chances and was soon serving for the match. The third seed made no mistakes and served the match out 6-2. This puts Konta into the main draw of the US Open, and her third Grand Slam main draw of the year. The Brit is also on a current 13 match winning streak since Wimbledon, and could continue this in the final slam of the year.
Edmund who was seeded sixth was playing against the 23rd seed Yoshihita Nishioka. Edmund was broken in the first game of the match, and appeared to be struggling in the first set. The Japanese player took full advantage and raced out to a lead, the Brit was certainly out of sorts and lost the first set 6-2. The seed started the second set much better, serving well as 68% of first serves were in, and scoring 85% of points behind the first serve the Brit was not letting Nishioka get any momentum. Edmund took control of the set and was soon sealing a 6-0 set. In the final set the Japanese player was serving just slightly better than the Brit and as breaks were exchanged Edmund had the lead and would serve for the match at 5-3. At this point the Japanese again stepped up a gear and broke the Brit back again. Edmund had three match points however he was unable to convert and Nishioka took full advantage to win the next three games to take the match 7-5 in the final set.
Klein had a tough draw against Matt Ebden from Australia who was seeded 26th. This tough match up for the Brit started with Klein securing 71% of points on first serve, although only 52% of first serves were in. The Brit had chances to break the Australian serve and converted one of those opportunities, however Ebden had more opportunities to break and took them to seal the first set 6-3. In the second set and the Australian continued with the momentum from the first set. Klein was unable to create any break point chances on the Australian serve, where as Ebden took two of the chances he created to book his place in the main draw over the Brit.
Broady was facing Annett Kontaveit for the main draw place. Both players only managed one break of serve each in the first set, meaning that the set went to a tiebreak. Broady was 4-0 up in the tiebreak but the Latvian won the next seven points to claim the tiebreak. In the second set the Brit was more in control as the serve improved, also claiming four of the 11 break points created on the Latvian serve to level the score to one set each. The final set was again very close, with both players serving well. The difference again came down to break point conversions, with the Latvian taking the only one that mattered. Broady was unable to break back, and the Latvian moved into the main draw.
Coverage of the US Open commences Monday 31st August
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