Harriet Dart rallies past Peyton Stearns in US Open first round

British qualifier Harriet Dart fought back from a set and a break down to beat American Peyton Stearns 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the US Open. BBC Sport reported that the victory ended a 19-month wait for Dart's first Grand Slam main-draw singles win since the 2025 Australian Open.

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Dart, ranked 131st in the world, entered the match after navigating three rounds of qualifying in New York. Each of those contests went to three sets, including matches in which she lost the opening set against Kristina Penickova and fellow Briton Heather Watson. Stearns was ranked more than 75 places above the 30-year-old qualifier.

The British player had early chances but could not convert any of four break points in the opening game. Stearns then denied her another break opportunity for the rest of the first set and applied sustained pressure to Dart's serve, breaking in the eighth game before taking the set 6-3.

Dart's position worsened when Stearns broke again in the opening game of the second set. However, the match shifted as the American became less consistent. BBC Sport recorded 40 winners and 47 unforced errors for Stearns, while Dart secured two breaks to claim the second set 6-3 and force a decider.

The deciding set featured another sequence of service breaks before Dart steadied herself. She held serve in the sixth game to stop a run of three consecutive breaks, then moved through the closing stages of the match. Dart converted her fourth match point to complete the comeback in just under two and a half hours.

The result takes Dart into the US Open second round for the third time, following previous appearances at that stage in 2022 and 2024. She joins British players Toby Samuel and Katie Boulter in round two and will next face 25th seed Marie Bouzkova. The win also ends a difficult sequence in which Dart failed to qualify for four of the previous six majors and exited in the first round at the past two Wimbledon tournaments after receiving wildcards.