Thursday 21 August 2014 11:14, UK
James Ward is the last Briton left in the US Open qualifying draw after Dan Evans and Daniel Smethurst both bowed out.
Ward was barely troubled as he advanced to the second round with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Aldin Setkin, setting up a clash with Vincent Millot from France.
However Evans and Smethurst endured disappointing days as they followed Dan Cox and Naomi Broady in missing out.
The 27-year-old Ward is at a career-high ranking of 131 after an excellent run on the North American hard courts and will have high hopes of making the main draw in New York for the first time.
Evans, who reached the third round of the main draw last year, failed to take a golden chance against Jimmy Wang before losing 4-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-2.
Evans had a match point, while Wang was struggling badly with cramps towards the end, but the American dug in to clinch the win.
The defeat will see Evans' ranking plummet from its current 176 well into the 200s and he must try to find something like his form of last summer to prevent it dropping further.
Smethurst’s New York adventure lasted just 50 minutes as he lost 6-1 6-2 to Konstantin Kravchuk.
