ATP Tour news: Toby Samuel spearheads British qualifying success as US Open gets underway
On the ATP Tour, the US Open is the final Grand Slam of the year and takes place in New York over the next fortnight.
A total of 128 players battled it out in qualifying at Flushing Meadows – with this year’s proceedings including nine Brits, galaxies away from the spotlight that Arthur Fery is currently enjoying.
While there was much to be disappointed with, the results of British players were at times impressive.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer and tennis fan AJ Becker takes a closer look at their fortunes.
Samuel shines once again
It is worth remembering that Toby Samuel was ranked 805th exactly a year ago.
Now, having already qualified for the French Open at the first time of asking, the 23-year-old has repeated the feat in New York.
Francesco Maestrelli of Italy, Samuel’s compatriot Billy Harris, and former top-20 player Cristian Garín all took the opening set against Samuel, yet all found themselves ultimately defeated.
What’s more, Samuel has now advanced to the second round of the main draw after taking out world number 58 Tomáš Macháč in straight sets.
Victorious in all five of his Challenger Tour finals on hard courts and a semi-finalist at the Eastbourne grass event, south coast native Samuel has proved beyond doubt that he has the weapons to excel on all surfaces while possessing a confidence and a steel in which other Brits are markedly deficient.
With his sights now set firmly on the top 100, the former University of South Carolina sports-management student is undoubtedly a player who bears watching – both now and in the future.
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Wendelken making his way
Harry Wendelken was also ranked in a low position this time last year (number 481), but the 24-year-old has since ascended into the top 200 after a tetrad of Challenger Tour finals and successful qualification at Queen’s.
If Samuel has sprinted towards the main tour, Wendelken’s rise has assumed the level of a graceful saunter, though the Cambridgeshire native is just as rich in resilience and mental toughness.
All three of his qualifying matches went the distance, with Wendelken having to win back-to-back tie-breaks in the final round against Lithuanian Vilius Gaubas – a match almost four hours in duration.
His main-draw debut sees him take on Italy’s Luciano Darderi, who is known principally as a clay courter yet has made impressive progress on hard surfaces in recent times.
Darderi is without doubt the favourite, but his unstable fitness may present Wendelken with a chance.
Fearnley finds his feet
After bursting onto the scene in mid-2024, Jacob Fearnley proved himself worthy of every accolade in the first half of 2025, with 16 main-draw tour-level wins propelling him into the top 50.
Although there have been moments of fleeting joy this year – such as his comeback win over Alex Michelsen at Wimbledon and the pair of Challenger finals on grass – it has been a tough last eight months for the 25-year-old Scot.
In the final qualifying round at Flushing Meadows, despite taking the first set, Fearnley was disappointingly unable to defeat Jurij Rodionov of Austria, a player whose 10 prior attempts at reaching a hard-court slam have all been unsuccessful.
Nonetheless, fate had an ace up its sleeve as Fearnley received one of four lucky loser berths for the tournament.
His opponent Martin Landaluce is a former junior US Open champion and is the higher-ranked player (number 65), but Fearnley’s solid preparation bridges the gap to some degree and puts them on relatively equal footing.
Victory may turn out to be ‘base camp’ for an upwards trek back into the top 50!
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Other Brits fall short
On the flipside of fate and fortune are those representing Great Britain who fell short.
In February, I wrote glowingly about Jack Pinnington Jones and his euphoria-cultivating seven days in Dallas.
Sadly, his quarter-final run at that 500-level event has proved to be something of a false dawn rather than the tour breakthrough many had hoped for.
A recent run of five wins in 20 matches underscores the difficulties the 23-year-old from Surrey has faced.
Despite North American hard courts being firmly within his comfort zone, the Texas Christian University alumnus fell at the second stage of qualifying to Finland’s Otto Virtanen, squandering two match points.
Felix Gill has shown glimpses of the highs of which he is capable on the Challenger tour, with a trio of semi-finals taking the Midlander to a career-high rank of number 213.
However, this US Open did not rank among his best tournaments as he tamely lost in stage one to Francesco Passaro of Italy.
The aforementioned Billy Harris being eliminated by Samuel came as no surprise since Harris’ overseas slam qualification record would send a seasoned politician running for the spin doctor!
As well as failing in all nine such campaigns, the 31-year-old could not qualify for any of 12 tour competitions outside of Wimbledon this year and is in danger of falling outside the top 200.
Henry Searle’s heavy loss to 16-year-old wild card Michael Antonius – this year’s junior French Open runner-up – registered as a shock, although when viewed in a different dimension, it can be mitigated by the fact Searle is on somewhat unfamiliar territory.
Lastly, Liam Broady and Jay Clarke’s hopes of appearing in another slam appear to be dead or at least dying – both were comprehensively defeated in round one.
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