Britons Jones and Harris one win from US Open

Jones has never reached the main draw of the US Open before

US Open 2025

Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 24 August-7 September

Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website & app

Francesca Jones and Billy Harris both moved to within one win of reaching the US Open main draw on Thursday.

British number four Jones - looking to reach the US Open main draw for the first time - produced a gutsy display in a 6-1 7-6 (13-11) victory over Georgia's Ekaterine Gorgodze.

Harris lost the first set against Mikhail Kukushkin but then dominated his opponent from Kazakhstan, winning nine consecutive games on the way to a 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-2 victory.

Harris, the world 151, made it through to the final round of qualifying for the second consecutive year and has also not played in the US Open main draw before.

Four other British hopefuls were beaten in US Open qualifying on Thursday.

Jodie Burrage and Harriet Dart have both reached the second round of the main draw in recent years, but saw their ambitions of replicating those results ended.

Burrage fell 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4 to Dutch 18th seed Arantxa Rus and Dart lost 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 to Ayana Akli of the United States.

On the men’s side, Jay Clarke was defeated 6-3 6-4 by qualifying top seed Arthur Cazaux of France and Oliver Crawford suffered a 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 loss to American Garrett Johns to end hopes of reaching only a second Grand Slam main draw.

'I would swear if I could'

Jones broke serve early in her match and was 3-0 up after just 11 minutes at a windy stadium 17.

However, the 24-year-old had to battle to save seven break points before the end of the set as Gorgodze fought back from a poor start.

The Georgian cut a frustrated figure during the opening set - at one point she turned on spectators behind her who were asked by the umpire to switch off their mobile phones - but then began the second set with a break and raced into a 3-0 lead.

At times Jones struggled to cope with the 33-year-old's powerful forehand, but the Briton broke for a third time to get the set back on serve.

Jones - the top seed in women's qualifying - had to save four set points in a brutal tie-break before claiming victory with her fifth match point.

"If I could swear, I would!" Jones told Sky Sports after the match.

"It was really difficult, she [Gorgodze] makes you play a lot of balls. She played some really good tennis in the second set, but I just didn't want to be out here in a third set today."

Victory over Arianne Hartono in the third round of qualifying on Friday would secure Jones - who grew up playing on clay - a place in the main draw for the first time in her career.

She has never received direct entry to a Grand Slam through her ranking and narrowly missed out this time, despite having climbed to a career-high 86th in the world since the US Open cut-off point.