Jamie Baker and Naomi Cavaday are just one win away from reaching the main draw of the US Open.

The British pair both enjoyed victories in the second qualifying round on Thursday and will get the chance to join Andy Murray and Tim Henman in the main event if they win again on Saturday in New York.

Baker eased his way past Slovakia's Michal Mertinak 6-4 6-2, while 18-year-old Cavaday had to battle hard to oust Romania's Anda Perianu 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 7-6 (7/5) .

Baker, the British number four, now faces Pablo Cuevas, of Uruguay, for a place in the main draw, while Cavaday will meet Germany's Sandra Kloesel.

In the first round, Anne Keothavong was an impressive 6-3 6-0 winner over Czech Sandra Zahlavova, but the other Brits in action on Thursday all bowed out.

Alex Bogdanovic was forced to retire from his first-round clash with Robert Smeets while trailing 3-0 in the opening set, while Richard Bloomfield could not build on Wednesday's win and went down 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 to Eduardo Schwank.

In the first round of the women's event, Katie O'Brien and Melanie South both lost in three sets, to Shengnan Sun and Ekaterina Makarova respectively.