Lily Miyazaki was making her second main-draw appearance at a Grand Slam after receiving a wildcard for Wimbledon in 2022Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Dates: 28 August-10 SeptemberCoverage: Daily live text and radio commentaries across the BBC Sport website, app, BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports ExtraBritish qualifier Lily Miyazaki earned her first win at a Grand Slam with a confident display against Margarita Betova on day one of the US Open.
The 27-year-old won 6-3 6-3 in New York and her reward is a second-round match against Swiss 15th seed Belinda Bencic.
Miyazaki, who was born in Japan and moved to London aged 10, had never previously qualified for a major.
She came through three matches to reach the main draw and continued that form against an out-of-sorts Betova.
"I'm lost for words right now," said Miyazaki. "Coming into the tournament I didn't expect to be at this stage. I'm so happy and proud of myself.
"Playing qualifying helped me because I got matches under my belt and got used to the conditions."
Watched on by a healthy number of British fans, including fellow player Jodie Burrage, Miyazaki played solidly throughout and forced Betova into a number of mistakes.
When the world number 198 sealed victory on her second match point, she broke out into a beaming smile and lapped up the appreciation of the crowd, some of who were waving Union Jack flags.
Miyazaki's greater confidence against a Russian opponent who has not won this season showed throughout.
She regularly posed Betova problems with her consistent returning, using the cross-court forehand in particular to good effect in a smart tactical performance.
Betova reached a career-high ranking of 41 in 2016 before a serious knee injury derailed her career.
She also took time away from the tour to have her son in late 2021 and, now outside the top 1,000, is playing under a protected ranking.
After Betova broke for 3-1 in the first set, she was unable to consolidate in her next service game before a poor volley and double fault at 3-3 swung the momentum towards Miyazaki.
Winning five successive games put Miyazaki ahead and she showed composure to fight back from 0-40 down at 2-2 in the second set before decisively breaking Betova in the sixth game.
Unable to take a match point on Betova's serve at 5-2, she took another opportunity on her own serve to become the first Briton to reach the second round.
Six other Britons - Andy Murray, Katie Boulter, Cameron Norrie, Burrage, Dan Evans and Jack Draper - play their opening matches at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday.
