Karlovic, Konjuh, Marino return to US Open main draw while Rune and Raducanu to make debuts

The US Open qualifying event ended on Friday with a mix of veterans and youngsters securing their berths in the 128-player main draw

Ivo Karlovic at the BMW Open 2018 ATP Tour Munich Credit: Imago / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

August 28, 2021

42-year-old Ivo Karlovic and 18-year-old Holger Rune moved from the qualifying event into the main draw of the US Open in New York on Friday, along with 14 other men.

Karlovic, who has served more aces than any other player in the history of the ATP tour, scored a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over Japan’s Yuichi Sugita, adding 66 aces to his career tally after three rounds in the qualifying event.

Karlovic will be appearing in the main draw at the US Open for the 17th in his career and will meet fifth seed Andrey Rublev.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Holger Rune, the former junior world No. 1 who has already broken into the top 150 of the ATP world rankings, scored a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Mats Moraing. The Dane, who trains at the Mouratoglou Academy in France, will be appearing in his first Grand Slam main draw outside of the juniors and will take on world No 1 Novak Djokovic in his opening round.

Raducanu and Marino get tough first-round opponents

In the women’s qualifying event, top seed Ana Konjuh, British teen Emma Raducanu and Canadian veteran Rebecca Marino were among the notable names to secure their spots in the main draw.

Konjuh, a former US Open quarterfinalist, defeated 18th seed Stefanie Voegele 6-2, 6-2 and will play in the main draw at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2017. She meets young Canadian Leylah Fernandez in the first round.

Raducanu, who delighted Britsh fans with a run to the fourth round at Wimbledon as a wild card entrant in July, scored a 6-1, 6-4 win over fourth seed Mayar Sherif 6-1, 6-4 and will make her US Open main draw debut next week. Raducanu has a tough first-round assignment against Australian Open runner-up Jennifer Brady next.

Sherif also advanced to the main draw via one of the three lucky loser spots that opened up after the withdrawals of Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Sofia Kenin.

Also advancing into main draw were qualifying second seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who defeated 16-year-old American Reese Brantmeier, 7-6(5), 6-3; third seed Nuria Parrizas Diaz, who beat Hungary’s Reka-Luca Jani, 6-3, 6-2; and seventh seed Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who won the Hamburg title and finished runner-up in Palermo earlier this year, defeated Federica Di Sarra 6-3, 6-0.

30-year-old Rebecca Marino, a former world No 38, upset sixth seed Greet Minnen 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to advance to the main draw in New York for the first time since 2010. She meets fifth seed Elina Svitolina in the opening round.