US Open 2016: Saketh Myneni one win away from first ever Grand Slam main draw

New York: India’s Saketh Myneni is one win away from making the singles main draw of the US Open as he advanced to the final qualifying round with a 7-6 (6) 6-4 win over local lad Mitchell Krueger. Saketh, ranked 143rd in the ATP rankings, now has a chance to play in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career as he faces Pedja Krstin from Serbia in the third round. [caption id=“attachment_2978042” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of India’s Saketh Myneni. AFP[/caption] The big-serving Indian had lost in the third qualifying round at the Australian Open and bowed out in the second round of the French Open early this year. It was a tight first set in which Myneni recovered from an early break to make it 4-4 and prevailed in the nerve-wracking tie-breaker. In the second set, it was Myneni, who drew first blood in the seventh game and served out the match in the 10th after battling hard for one hour and 30 minutes. The Indian now needs to down his Serbian opponent on Friday at Flushing Meadows. Pedja is placed 57 places below him at 200 in the ATP rankings. However, Pedja goes into the contest 1-0 up in head-to-head record with a win over the Indian in Turkey in May last year. Pedja also knocked out the 13th seed American Dennis Novikov, 7-6, 7-5 in the second round of qualifying. (With inputs from PTI)