Watson and four British men advance in US Open qualifying in New York

Heather Watson and several British players progressed in the first round of US Open qualifying in New York on Monday, with Watson overcoming Claire Liu 4-6 6-2 6-4. Toby Samuel, Jacob Fearnley, Billy Harris and Harry Wendelken also won their opening qualifying matches.

Watson, who made her US Open main-draw debut in 2011, fought back from a set down to keep alive her bid for a first main-draw appearance at Flushing Meadows in five years. Players must win three rounds of qualifying to reach the singles main draw, which gets under way on Sunday.

The 34-year-old Watson beat sixth seed Claire Liu 4-6 6-2 6-4, recovering after losing the opening set and holding on in the deciding set despite almost surrendering a double-break lead. Her victory sets up a second-round qualifying match against Spain's Angela Fita Boluda.

In men's qualifying, Toby Samuel rallied past Italy's Francesco Maestrelli 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-1 and will meet fellow Brit Billy Harris in the next round. Harris advanced with a 6-1 6-3 win over Peru's Gonzalo Bueno.

Jacob Fearnley defeated Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 to earn a tie with France's Luka Pavlovic, while Harry Wendelken overcame Italy's Stefano Travaglia 6-4 3-6 6-3 and will face Swiss player Remy Bertola.

Liam Broady was beaten by Italy's Marco Cecchinato 7-6 (7-4) 6-3, and Felix Gill lost to Italy's Francesco Passaro 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 in their opening qualifying matches.

China's two-time US Open quarter-finalist Zheng Qinwen defeated compatriot Xiaodi You 6-3 6-2; the 23-year-old, contesting a Grand Slam qualifying event for the first time since the 2022 Australian Open, has fallen to 121st in the world since undergoing elbow surgery last year and will meet France's Clara Burel next. Brazilian world number 26 Joao Fonseca has announced he will miss the tournament because of an abdominal injury; the 20-year-old French Open quarter-finalist said he would require "more time to fully recover so I can compete at a high level".

Britons Henry Patten and Lloyd Glasspool progressed through mixed-doubles qualifying with their partners on Monday. Patten and Czech partner Katerina Siniakova, the respective men's and women's world number ones in doubles, beat Americans Peyton Stearns and Christian Harrison in straight sets in their second qualifying match and will face Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka in the first round of the main draw. After defeating El Salvador's Marcelo Arevalo and France's Kristina Mladenovic, Glasspool and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe will play Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz, with Alcaraz returning from a wrist injury and Williams making her competitive return after a four-year absence. The US Open mixed doubles was revamped last year: the top six pairs by combined singles rankings received direct entry, eight pairs were given wildcards, the event now takes place over three days before the main draw and early-round matches use a shorter scoring system with only four games required to win a set, no 'advantage' scoring and 10-point match tie-breaks instead of a third set.

Watson's next opponent is Spain's Angela Fita Boluda; Samuel meets Billy Harris, Fearnley faces Luka Pavlovic and Wendelken plays Remy Bertola, while Patten/Siniakova and Glasspool/Routliffe have first-round mixed-doubles matches against Djokovic/Sabalenka and Williams/Alcaraz respectively.