Australia's promising US Open build-up has continued, with tenacious Talia Gibson leading seven players from Down Under into the final round of qualifying - the most in 30 years.
Gibson saved a match point in a tense deciding super tiebreaker before pulling off a 6-3 1-6 7-6 (12-10) victory over American Hanna Chang in an epic encounter stretching two hours, 15 minutes.
The 20-year-old from Perth, who also progressed to the final qualifying round at Wimbledon, next faces Spanish world No.115 Marina Bassols Ribera for a spot in the main draw of an overseas grand slam for the first time.
Gibson is among a record six Australian women into the final round of qualifying at Flushing Meadows.
Exciting teenage prospect Maya Joint also survived a three-setter, storming home for a 7-5 3-6 6-0 win over Belarusian Iryna Shymanovich.
The 18-year-old Joint, who has slashed her ranking by more than 550 places in 2024 to crack the world's top 200, can make her grand slam main-draw debut with success in the final round of qualifying against US world No.106 Hailey Baptiste.
Veteran Arina Rodionova, Australia’s top-ranked female in the draw at world No.118, advanced with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Romanian Irina Bara.
The 34-year-old is enjoying her best run in US Open qualifying since 2010 and has a golden opportunity to make the main draw with a victory over Thailand's lower-ranked Mananchaya Sawangkaew next up.
Priscilla Hon needed only 44 minutes to dispatch Ukraine's Daria Snigur 6-1 6-0 and set up a do-or-die clash with Russian qualifying top seed Kamilla Rakhimova.
Destanee Aiava marched on with a 6-3 6-4 defeat of Japan's Mai Hontama, claiming a second straight scalp of a higher-ranked opponent.
Aiava plays Croatian Ana Konjuh, a former top-20 star who won the US Open girls’ singles title in 2013 before making the women's quarter-finals three years later.
And Kim Birrell booked her spot in the final round of qualifying for a second successive year with a 6-4 6-4 win over Slovenian Veronika Erjavec.
To qualify in New York for a first time, the 26-year-old will need to beat American wildcard Julieta Pareja, a 15-year-old who has already upset two higher-ranked rivals this week.
In men's qualifying, late-blooming South Australian Li Tu is enjoying his deepest run at a grand slam after edging out Argentine Marco Trungelliti 7-5 7-5 to book a final-round date with Dutchman Jesper de Jong.
Australia is already assured of having 14 players in the main draw, including 10 in the men's top 100 for the first time since 1980.
The Open draw takes place early Friday morning AEST.
