Sumit Nagal, the lone Indian left in contention, reached the third and final round of qualifying and is a win away from the main draw of the US Open.
The Indian world No 190 took just over two hours to beat the 192nd ranked Peter Polansky of Canada 7-5, 7-6(0) late on Thursday night in New York.
In the final qualifier match, he will play Joao Menezes of Brazil in a bid to qualify for his first-ever Grand Slam. This is Nagal’s first attempt at making the Grand Slam singles main draw this season in which he enjoyed considerable success and broke into the top-200.
The 22-year-old, who is playing his first hard court tournament after competing in the late clay swing, held his nerve in what was a close contest even with straight sets margin. Nagal converted five of 13 break points while losing his own serve four times from 12 break points.
In the last match, Nagal will face Menezes, who is ranked lower than him at 210 but has a winning record against the Indian. The Brazilian had beaten him earlier this year at the Samarkhand Challenger in May as well as at an ITF event in Spain last year. Both matches went to three sets and Nagal was a seeded player in both the losses.
If the 22-year-old wins the match, he will become just the fifth Indian man to qualify for a Grand Slam singles this decade after Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, Saketh Myneni, and Prajnesh Gunneswaran.
Last year, he had competed in the qualifiers of the Australian Open, the French Open and the Wimbledon Championships but could not register a single win.
Meanwhile, India No 1 Prajnesh got a tough draw to begin the last Grand Slam of the year. He will face fifth seed and recent Cincinnati champion Daniil Medvedev and in the first round.
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