US Open - British duo reach second round of qualifying

Davis Cup star Evans beat Canada's Peter Polansky 6-2 6-3, while Murray beat Australian Arina Rodinova 6-4 6-1 to set up a second-round qualifying clash with American teen Taylor Townsend.

Townsend, 17, reached the junior final of this year's Wimbledon but has never played in a main Grand Slam event. She beat qualifying 11th seed Eva Birnerova of the Czech Republic 6-1 6-2.

Moore, however, could not get past Colombia's Catalina Castano, going down 6-4 1-6 6-4.

Another notable qualifier for the second round was American 21-year-old Coco Vandeweghe, a former US Open junior champion and four-times veteran of the main draw.

James Ward and Elena Baltacha made it through to the penultimate round of qualifying on Wednesday, meaning four Britons are two matches away from joining Andy Murray, Laura Robson and Heather Watson in the main draw.

The US Open takes place at Flushing Meadows between August 26 and September 9.

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US Open - Three Brits reach final qualifying round

Baltacha destroyed Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-3 6-0 in a match that lasted just over an hour but needed five hours to complete as thunderstorms interrupted play.

The 30-year-old Baltacha, a former British number one but now ranked 244th in the world, made light work of Savchuk, who is ranked 71 places higher than the woman born in Ukraine but raised in Britain after her footballer father joined Ipswich in 1988.

The other British woman left in qualifying, Sam Murray, was beaten 6-4 7-5 by rising American star Taylor Townsend.

The 17-year-old Townsend is ranked 144 places below Murray but she reached the final of the junior Wimbledon tournament and his highly rated as a star of the future.

Both remaining men did make it through.

World number 175 James Ward dropped the first set to 27th-seeded German Matthias Bachinger, but managed to win through 2-6 6-4 6-4. He will face India’s sixth seed Somdev Devvarman for a place in the main draw.

Davis Cup star Dan Evans, ranked 179th in the world, came through a topsy-turvy clash with Italian world number 159 Flavio Cipolla, winning 7-5 1-6 6-3 to set up a clash with Adrian Menendez-Garcia of Spain, who is ranked five places below Evans.

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