Tennis acca tips: US Open carrot dangling in front of ambitious qualifiers

The US Open's qualifying tournament has reached the second of its three rounds, whittling down a massive field of Grand Slam hopefuls.

There will be a great deal more heartache in the weeks to come but for those going out in the second qualifier will have a particular sting.

Here we make picks for a handful of qualifiers from the men's and women's draw of the US Open qualifiers.

US Open qualifiers men's: James Duckworth vs Terence Atmane | Pick: Duckworth

US Open qualifiers men's: Kevin Anderson vs Tomas Machac | Pick: Anderson

US Open qualifiers men's: Thiago Agustin Tirante vs Brandon Holt | Pick: Holt

US Open qualifiers men's: Yu Hsiou Hsu vs Benoit Paire | Pick: Paire

US Open qualifiers women's: Dayana Yastremska vs Eugenie Bouchard | Pick: Yastremska

US Open qualifiers women's: Erika Andreeva vs Petra Marcinko | Pick: Andreeva

US Open qualifiers women's: Mirjam Bjorklund vs Leolia Jeanjean | Pick: Bjorklund

US Open qualifiers women's: Yanina Wickmayer vs Harriet Dart | Pick: Wickmayer

James Duckworth is out to reach the main draw of the US Open for the eighth time while Terence Atmane chases a Grand Slam debut.

These players haven't seen a terrific amount of close overlapping in their careers to date given their contrasting backgrounds and age gap.

Duckworth's big stage experience is likely to be telling even if much of his recent activity has been down at Challenger level.

Atmane, a Challenger Tour regular this term has made steady progress towards an ATP Tour breakthrough.

Kevin Anderson's comeback has hit the snag many are challenged by as he now has to qualify for big events with wildcards not so freely handed out.

Anderson faces a tough opponent in Tomas Machac as well but the former Grand Slam finalist has shown promising signs of being a force on the Tour again.

Machac qualified for Wimbledon earlier this season but has struggled in his few ATP Tour main draw appearances.

Anderson announced a suprprise comeback after Wimbledon this season and is now two matches away from a Grand Slam return.

Son of WTA world No 1 Tracy Austin, Brandon Holt is out to make waves at the US Open like his mother.

Holt was in good form in his first qualifier in New York but faces a players in Thaigo Tirante who has just beaten an ATP Tour regular in Luca Nardi.

Neither man was terribly impressive last week with Holt falling in qualifying for the Cincinnati Masters while Tirante lost his opener at the Stanford Challenger.

Holt might be battling in the rankings but he has more big stage experience which is crucial for reaching a Grand Slam.

This is another lopsided tie when it come to experience but in practice this is likely to be a tight contest.

French veteran Paire has suffered a Challenger loss to Taiwan's Yu Hsiou Hsu.

Paire was beaten by Hsu in a Challenger event in 2022 and should be bent on revenge.

Hsu has a couple of M25 title wins this season and has quite an advantage over Paire in terms of time on court this season even if the Frenchman has played more at ATP Tour level.

Two players with a personal history are set to battle it out in New York and this match should attract plenty of onlookers.

Bouchard has apologised for labelling Yastremska a 'doper' but this will be the first meeting of the players since the Canadians unforced error.

Yastremska lost in their last meeting at the Madrid Open which preceded Bouchard making an off-colour remark on Twitter.

Disrespect aside, Yastremska has had some bright moments this season and should be able to turn around her Madrid loss in New York

The elder Andreeva sister Erika faces Petra Marcinko in a battle of top 200 teenagers at Flushing Meadows.

World No 158 Andreeva is relatively evenly matched with World No 178 Marcinko.

This will be the first meeting between the relatively green players who both harbour dreams of a US Open debut.

Marcinko saw off Jil Teichmann in her q1 match which underlines her potential but Andreeva is just a little further along in her development.

Mirjam Bjorklund owns a 1-0 head-to-head lead over Leolia Jeanjean albeit with that match coming at a much lower level.

Jeanjean bested former top 50 player Tereza Martincova in her opening qualifier.

Bjorklund, who is engaged to Canadian ATP Professional Denis Shapovalov, has suffered qualifier defeats at each of this year's Grand Slams.

Jeanjean has made two Grand Slam appearances this season but she was a Lucky Loser in Melbourne and a Wild Card at Roland Garros where she also reached the second round.

Yanina Wickmayer is a nightmare opponent for the lone remaining Brit in women's qualifying Harriet Dart.

Wickmayer was a semi-finalist at Warsaw at the end of July and narrowly missed out on reaching the main draw directly.

Dart has beaten Wickmayer in their only previous meeting but that was on the grass of Surbiton.

Wickmayer's experience should give her the edge in this qualifier second round match.