GB’s Watson, Jubb & Kartal win in US Open qualifiers

Great Britain’s Heather Watson, Paul Jubb and Sonay Kartal made it through the first round of qualifying for the US Open.

Former British number one Watson moved past last year’s junior Wimbledon champion Clervie Ngounoue with a comfortable 6-1 6-1 win in 69 minutes.

Jubb, 193rd in the world, triumphed in an all-British encounter, beating Jacob Fearnley 6-1 7-6 (7-2) despite being ranked 33 places lower than his compatriot.

Kartal, who reached the third round at Wimbledon this year before falling to second seed Coco Gauff, won 6-3 6-3 against Spain’s Guiomar Maristany.

There was disappointment, however, for Liam Broady, who fell to a 7-5 7-6 (9-7) defeat by Finland’s Otto Virtanen.

Broady, 30, missed the start of the grass-court season after suffering a concussion from hitting his head on the boot of his car.

Billy Harris, Jan Choinski, Oliver Crawford, Fran Jones and Lily Miyazaki will play their first-round qualifiers on Tuesday.

The main draw at Flushing Meadows starts on 26 August.