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Harriet Dart moved to within one win of qualifying for the Australian Open, but Heather Watson’s hopes ended after a bright start.
Dart came through 6-7 (6) 6-1 6-2 after dropping a see-saw first set to Australian teenager Taylah Preston in Melbourne.
Dart lost her opening service game to trail 3-0, but broke back to level and took advantage of two double faults to break again for a 5-4 lead – starting a run of four straight breaks up to a tie-break.
The breaks continued throughout the tie-break, the British number four – ranked third in qualifying – saving four set points before going down 9-7.
By contrast, Dart lost just four points on her serve as she raced through the second set 6-1, breaking the Australian once more at the start of the deciding set.
She added a second break later in the set as she served out to book her place in the final round of qualifying, where she will face Japan’s Nao Hibino on Thursday.
Despite taking the first set, Watson went down 6-3 3-6 1-6 to American Varvara Lepchenko.
Watson broke the American at the first time of asking to open a 3-0 lead in the first set, only for Lepchenko to level things up after a break of her own.
The British number six broke again and served out to take the set, but was unable to make any further inroads on her opponent’s serve as she slipped to defeat in just under two hours.
