US Open: Smith, Santillan one win from main draw
John-Patrick Smith and Akira Santillan advanced to the final round of US Open qualifying on Thursday; both are just a single victory away from a main-draw berth.
New York, NY, USA, 25 August 2017 | tennis.com.au
Australians John-Patrick Smith and Akira Santillan are each just one win away from the US Open main draw after scoring second-round qualifying wins on Thursday in New York.
Smith, who also qualified for the tournament in 2015, beat 12th seed Filip Krajinovic 6-4 6-4, and will take on American Mitchell Krueger at the last hurdle.
DRAW: US Open men’s qualifying singles
ORDER OF PLAY: Friday 25 August
Santillan advanced to the final round of qualifying with a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win over Uladzimir Ignatik of Belarus, and next will battle JC Aragone.
Until this year, Santillan had only ever previously played at Flushing Meadows in the junior event.
Unfortunately, Aussie women Destanee Aiava and Lizette Cabrera were unable to build on their first-round wins in qualifying.
Aiava fell 6-3 6-3 in her second-round match against Rebecca Peterson, while Cabrera went down 6-3 6-0 at the same stage of the event to Turkey’s Ipek Soylu.