Britain’s Heather Watson battled back from a set down against Claire Liu to keep alive her hopes of securing a first US Open main-draw appearance in five years.

The 34-year-old Watson beat sixth seed Liu 4-6 6-2 6-4 in the first round of qualifying in New York.

Watson almost let a double-break lead slip in the final set but held firm to set up a meeting with Spain’s Angela Fita Boluda.

Toby Samuel, Jacob Fearnley, Billy Harris and Harry Wendelken all progressed in men’s qualifying.

Samuel, seeking to reach the US Open main draw for the first time, fought back against Italy’s Francesco Maestrelli to win 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-1 and set up a meeting with fellow Briton Harris.

Harris progressed with a 6-1 6-3 win against Peru’s Gonzalo Bueno.

Fearnley claimed a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory over Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena to set up a meeting with Frenchman Luka Pavlovic.

Wendelken will meet Swiss player Remy Bertola after overcoming Italy’s Stefano Travaglia 6-4 3-6 6-3.

However, Liam Broady lost 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 against Italy’s Marco Cecchinato, while Felix Gill was beaten by Italian Francesco Passaro 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

Players must come through three rounds of qualifying to reach the singles main draw, which gets under way on Sunday.

China’s two-time US Open quarter-finalist Zheng Qinwen, contesting a Grand Slam qualifying event for the first time since the 2022 Australian Open, defeated compatriot Xiaodi You 6-3 6-2.

The 23-year-old, who has fallen to 121st in the world since undergoing elbow surgery last year, will meet France’s Clara Burel next.

Meanwhile, Brazilian world number 26 Joao Fonseca has announced he will miss the tournament because of an abdominal injury.

The 20-year-old French Open quarter-finalist said he would require “more time to fully recover so I can compete at a high level”.

In the mixed doubles competition, Britons Henry Patten and Lloyd Glasspool will both seek to beat some of the sport’s biggest stars after coming through two qualifying matches on Monday.

The US Open mixed doubles was controversially revamped last year to include singles stars in a bid to attract more attention to the format.

Under the new format, the top six pairs with the best combined singles rankings received direct entry into the main draw, with another eight receiving wildcards.

The tournament now takes place over three days in the week before the main draw began, and features a shorter scoring system with only four games required to win a set in matches before the final, no ‘advantage’ scoring and 10-point match tie-breaks instead of a third set throughout.

Both Patten and Glasspool had to come through qualifying with their respective partners on Monday.

Patten, a two-time winner of the men’s doubles competition at Wimbledon, and Czech team-mate Katerina Siniakova defeated Americans Peyton Stearns and Christian Harrison in straight sets in their second qualifying match.

Next, Patten and Siniakova – the respective men’s and women’s world number ones in doubles – will take on 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic and top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the first round of the main draw.

After defeating El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo and France’s Kristina Mladenovic, Glasspool and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe will face 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams and seven-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz.

Alcaraz will be playing his first match in four months after recovering from a wrist injury, while Williams is making her return to the sport after a four-year absence.