American Fiona Crawley has shown a flair for the dramatic in her US Open qualifying debut, embarking on a truly wild journey as a wild card. The 21-year-old, a college star with the reigning NCAA champion North Carolina Tar Heels, saved two match points in her opening-round victory on Tuesday against Reka Luca Jani.
She returned to the court on Thursday to take on Timea Babos and looked on course for a straightforward win, leading 6-2, 3-1 in Grandstand. But the Hungarian rattled off eight straight games to force a third set and build a 3-0 lead in the decider.
Behind by two breaks, Crawley fought back and ultimately forced a deciding tiebreak. As the dramatic match approached its climax, rain halted play at 5-5 in the 10-point breaker. The wet weather continued throughout Thursday evening, forcing the players to sleep on that cliffhanger scoreline.
When play resumed on Friday, it was all Crawley. The American won five straight points, helped by two double faults, to clinch a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5) victory and advance to the final round of qualifying. She will next meet 13th seed Kimberly Birrell on Saturday in her bid to make the main draw for the first time.
Crawley, the NCAA's top-ranked player this past spring season, is already assured of a main-draw place in women's doubles. She and partner Carson Tanguilig earned a wild card for the event by winning the NCAA doubles title.
Crawley's dramatic conclusion wasn't Friday's only top story. Read on for more highlights from Day 4 of 2023 US Open qualifying.
Decisive tiebreaks around the grounds
In addition to the one between Crawley and Babos, there were four more deciding tiebreaks played on Friday.
Also in Grandstand, Belgium's Joris de Loore edged Maxime Cressy, 6-7(11), 6-2, 7-6(9). After Cressy saved three match points from 9-6 in the breaker, de Loore recovered to win the next two points. Through to the final qualifying round here for the second time (also 2017), he will meet Nicolas Moreno de Alboran after the American beat Aziz Dougaz, 7-6(5), 6-4.
Both players are chasing their Grand Slam main-draw debut.
On Court 6, Viktoria Hruncakova ended the run of Emiliana Arango, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(8). Arango saved five match points in her opening-round win but could not repeat the feat against the ninth seed from Slovakia. On Court 12, sixth seed Hugo Gaston was a 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(6) winner against Yuta Shimizu.
Closing the day's play on Court 15, Tatiana Prozorova edged 19th seed Tamara Zidansek, 7-6(11), 3-6, 7-6(8), in the longest women's match of qualifying at three hours, 29 minute. The 19-year-old Prozorova is competing in her first senior Grand Slam (qualifying or main draw).
Mission accomplished
Seven women and seven men booked their places in the 2023 US Open main draw with a third qualifying win of the week on Friday.
The women's qualifiers are: Sachia Vickery (USA), Han Na-Lae (KOR), Laura Siegemund (GER), Elena Gabriela Ruse (COL), Mirjam Bjorklund (SWE), Tatiana Prozorova and Katie Volynets (USA).
The men's qualifiers are: Enzo Couacaud (FRA), Felipe Meligeni Alves (BRA), Taro Daniel (JPN), Otto Virtanen (FIN), Timofey Skatov (KAZ), Hsu Yu Hslou (TPE) and Dominic Stricker (SUI).
Qualifying will wrap up on Saturday, which also doubles as Arthur Ashe Kids' Day at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis center. Matches are scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
