The Bronx Challenger is traditionally entered by many of those playing in the US Open qualies, both men and women, so has an unusually high cut-off. Miles Maclagan won here in 1998, but the women have rarely prospered.

Naomi has a good first match, but Kulikova represents a big obstacle to qualifying.

Regina Kulikova RUS [1] vs. Maria Tanaka JPN
Tamaryn Hendler BEL vs. Shenay Perry USA [WC]
Nina Kukharchuk RUS [WC] vs. Naomi Cavaday GBR
Anne Yelsey USA vs. Sophie Ferguson AUS [6]

Mel and Bally should be in the main draw.

Main Draw (2nd and 4th quarters):

(4)Ioana-Raluca Olaru (ROU) v Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)
Oxana Lyubtsova (UKR) v Q
Abigail Spears (USA) v Ekaterina Ivanova (RUS)
Catalina Castano (COL) v (8)Melanie South (GBR)

(5)Julia Schruff (GER) v Elena Baltacha (GBR)
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) v (wc)Kimberly Couts (USA)
Kristina Barrois (GER) v Q
(wc)Jennifer Elie (USA) v (2)Stephanie Foretz (FRA)

A reasonable draw for Mel, given the calibre of this tournament. Bally has a tough draw, but virtually anybody seems tough for her on US hardcourts.

Doubles:

(4)Foretz/Ruutel (FRA/EST) v Schruff/Woerle (GER)
Borwell/Stephenson (GBR/USA) v (wc)Elie/Litvak (USA)

-- Edited by DavidC at 23:15, 2008-08-11

Thats a bad loss for Naomi. Whats goi ng on with her this year she should be top 100 by now

Naomi remains the only one of the top 8 GB girls to have won a match this week.

I'm not sure what's happened to her either - I'd hoped putting up a good performance against Venus at Wimbledon might have stopped the slump, but no realsigns of that yet. I guess she's just finding it hard to adjust to playing higher level tournaments than she was last year - she wouldn't be the first GB girl to take a while to make that transition.

R1: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 8 135 beat CASTANO, Catalina (COL) 144 6-0 6-4

Great result Mel!

R2: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 8 135 lost to IVANOVA, Ekaterina (RUS) 174 6-3 6-7(5) 0-6