Australian Open qualifying: Harriet Dart and Billie Harris one win away from Melbourne main draw
Great Britain’s Harriet Dart and Billie Harris have reached the final round of qualifying for the Australian Open, but Heather Watson suffered a defeat at Melbourne Park.
Third seed Darts, who has fallen out of the world top 100 recently, fought back to see off Australian teenager Tayla Preston 6-7 (7-9) 6-1 6-2.
Harris, the last British man left in qualifying, needed just 70 minutes to defeat Spain’s Carlos Taberner 6-1, 6-2.
However, Watson faced disappointment as she lost to American Varvara Lepchenko 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Dart will face Japan’s Nao Hibino on Thursday, while Harris, who made her Grand Slam main draw debut at Wimbledon last year, will play Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak.
Britain’s Francesca Jones will aim to join Dart and Harris in the final round of qualifying when she faces Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann on Wednesday.
To reach the main draw of the tournament starting on Sunday, players will have to win three qualifying matches.
Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu, Sone Kartel, Jodie Burrage, Jack Draper, Cameron Norie and Jacob Fearnley have all received direct entry into the main singles draw.
