Verdasco Advances To Final Round Of US Open Qualifying

  • Posted: Aug 26, 2022

Verdasco Advances To Final Round Of US Open Qualifying

Aug262022

Seppi among seven Italians to advance on Thursday

Spain’s Fernando Verdasco is one win away from a return to the US Open main draw. The 38-year-old, a quarter-finalist in New York in 2009 and 2010, earned a Thursday qualifying victory as he seeks his 18th main-draw appearance at the year’s final Grand Slam and his first since 2019.

Verdasco was a 7-6(4), 6-3 winner against Mikhail Kukushkin as he produced a near-identical scoreline to his 7-6(5), 6-3 opening-round win against Italy’s Gianluca Mager.

He will face 12th seed Pavel Kotov on Friday for a place in the main draw. Kotov has also won all four of his qualifying sets, including a 6-3, 6-4 win against Sebastian Ofner on Thursday. He is seeking to qualify for a major for the second time in as many tries after he earned his place in the Roland Garros main draw in May.

American Christopher Eubanks also advanced to the final qualifying round with a dramatic three-set win in New York.

In one of the matches of the day, the 26-year-old edged France’s Gregoire Barrere 7-6(6), 6-7(2), 7-6(10-4) in a two-hour, 50-minute marathon. The former Georgia Tech star had three match points at 0/40 on return at 5-6 in the third set, but instead finished the match with a dominant performance in the tie-break, winning its first three and final five points.

Seeking to qualify for his home Slam for the second straight year as he bids for his fourth appearance in the 128-player field, Eubanks will next face Italy’s Raul Brancaccio, who won a 7-5 first set against Mats Moraing before the German retired.

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Italian veteran Andreas Seppi moved closer to his 19th straight US Open main-draw appearance with a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 win against 26th seed Vasek Pospisil. Seppi and Brancaccio are among seven Italians into the third round of qualifying, including 10th seed Franco Agamenone, Francesco Maestrelli, Matteo Arnaldi, Flavio Cobolli and Riccardo Bonadio.

Gilles Simon was knocked out of his farewell US Open with a loss against Arnaldi, who advanced 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. The Frenchman is set to retire following the 2022 season.

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