Briton makes US Open main draw

British starlet Johanna Konta has qualified for her first-ever Grand Slam after making it into the main draw for the US Open.

The 21-year-old sealed her place at Flushing Meadows after an impressive win over Zhang Shuai in the third round of qualifying. Her opponent, ranked 195 in the world, won the middle set after losing the first but eventually Konta came out on top in three sets, prevailing 6-4 3-6 7-5. Konta was born in Australia but switched allegiance to Britain in May and has only lived in the UK since 2005 but she was delighted with her performance. "It means a lot," she said. "This was my first qualifying appearance in any Grand Slam so I was very happy I was able to convert that into main draw." Konta had made it into the third qualifying round after previous wins over Chang Kai-chen and Kurumi Nara.