A rainy Friday in New York City did not stop three of the Czech Republic's rapidly rising teenagers from qualifying for the US Open main draw.
Linda Noskova and Linda Fruhvirtova, both 17, and 16-year-old Sara Bejlek all made it through the final round of qualifying, becoming three of the 17 players (16 qualifiers and one lucky loser) who earned the final coveted spots in the last Grand Slam event of 2022.
No.4 seed Noskova was the highest-seeded player to successfully navigate this week's qualifying event and make the main draw. Noskova did not drop a set all week, backing up her second-round win over Eugenie Bouchard with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Anastasia Zakharova.
World No.87 Noskova, who is the youngest player currently ranked inside the Top 100, moves into her second major main draw of the year. Noskova made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at Roland Garros, where she also was a qualifier.
Main draw singles with qualifiers placed. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/alnsZZHMPo
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World No.158 Fruhvirtova booked her own Grand Slam main-draw debut on Friday with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 final-round win over Chloe Paquet. Fruhvirtova dropped her first set of the week against the 12th-seeded Frenchwoman, but held on in the third set to claim her spot.
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World No.194 Bejlek, the youngest of the trio, will also make her Grand Slam main-draw debut after overcoming Heather Watson 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Former Top 40 player Watson led 5-3 in the third set before Bejlek reeled off four games in a row to topple the Brit.
Among Friday's other winners, No.28 seed Clara Burel of France outlasted No.7 seed Misaki Doi of Japan 2-6, 6-4, 7-6[12-10]. Burel staved off five match points after withstanding two separate rain delays late in the clash.
Doi held four match points at 6-5 in the third set, and after fending off two match points for Burel at 9-7 in the decisive match-tiebreak, the Japanese player had a fifth match point at 10-9. However, Burel ran off the next three points to eke out the win after 2 hours and 45 minutes of on-court action.
No.5 seed Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland also sealed a main-draw spot after a 6-4, 6-4 win over Astra Sharma of Australia. Golubic posted her career-best Grand Slam showing last year when she made the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Other qualifiers from earlier on Friday included: Ashlyn Krueger and Catherine Harrison of the United States, Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia, Yuan Yue of China and Daria Snigur of Ukraine.
After the rain finally stopped for the day, more qualifiers emerged by notching evening wins including: Cristina Bucsa of Spain, Fernanda Contreras Gómez of Mexico, Elina Avanesyan, Erika Andreeva, Léolia Jeanjean of France, and Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy.
The lucky loser into the main draw is Kamilla Rakhimova.
