Myneni one win away from US Open main draw

India's Saketh Myneni is one win away from making the singles main draw of the US Open after advancing to the third and final qualifying round with a 7-6(6), 6-4 victory over local lad Mitchell Krueger, in New York.

Ranked 143rd in the world, he takes on Pedja Krstin of Serbia next, with a chance to make it to the singles main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

The big-serving Indian had lost in the third qualifying round at the Australian Open and in the second round of the French Open qualification earlier this year.

It was a tight first set in which Myneni recovered from an early break to make it 4-4 and prevail in a nerve-wracking tie-breaker.

In the second set, he broke in the seventh game and served out the match in the 10th after battling hard for an hour and 30 minutes.

Pedja, who is ranked 57 places below him at 200 in the ATP rankings, goes into the final qualifying round 1-0 up in the head-to-head record between the two players, courtesy a win in Turkey in May last year.

Image: Saketh Myneni

Photograph: PTI