Britain's Toby Samuel has reached the second round of the US Open, a remarkable climb from his world ranking of 1,871 at the start of 2025.
Samuel came through qualifying to make his main draw debut at Flushing Meadows. He needed just an hour and 32 minutes to beat the former world No 20 Tomas Machac and book his place in the second round.
The 23-year-old, known as the 'Winchester Rifle' for his powerful serve, hit serves of up to 135mph to overpower his Czech opponent. The win moved Samuel into the world's top 100 and earned him £140,000, comfortably the biggest pay day of his career.
Samuel, a former University of South Carolina player, has captured five ATP Challenger titles since January 2025 and reached his first ATP Tour semi-final at the Lexus Eastbourne Open in June.
"Yeah, it's kind of surreal," he said. "When I was obviously that ranking, I didn't even imagine I'd be playing these events this year. I was sort of hoping to be playing Challenger tournaments, and then obviously here now I've managed to carry on that form for the last year and haven't really looked back, so I'm just so happy I'm able to be in this situation now. I always had a good amount of belief because I was top at college for the last few years. I got to 400 and then I was injured, so that's obviously one of the reasons why my ranking was that low. I knew that I had the level to jump up and play here, but obviously not this fast. I've always believed in myself and obviously now it's paid off. I'm here now."
