Katie O’Brien and Elena Baltacha are through to the final round of qualifying at the French Open in Paris.O’Brien, who came through her opening match in three sets, defeated Japan’s Rika Fujiwama 7-6(3) 6-2 on Thursday.
The 23 year-old will now face Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus needing just one more win to join Anne Keothavong and Mel South in the main draw, the two Brits having gained direct entries.
“I remember in the past when I played qualies, the fact that it was a Grand Slam made it quite daunting and I’ve always been a little bit nervous,” said O’Brien, who has won two $25k titles this year in Sutton and Jersey.
“But after I qualified in Australia this year, it’s given me a lot of confidence and I come into this believing that I can qualify. I think it’s probably even harder to qualify at the French, though, because it’s on clay and you have to win three tough matches.”
Having recorded a routine straight sets victory in her first round match, Baltacha looked in fine form again as she saw off Frenchwoman Stephanie Vongsouthi 6-1 7-5 in 1 hour 22 minutes.
The British No.4, who had never previously got past the first round of qualies in Paris, will now play the top seed in the qualifying draw, Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, with one more win required to progress.
Meanwhile, Alex Bogdanovic bowed out of the men’s qualifying event, losing a closely fought battle to the No.26 seed from India, Somdev Devvarman, 2-6 7-6(3) 4-6.