James McGee stormed back from the dead to dramatically fulfil his dream of winning a place in the main draw of the US Open in New York tonight.
It looked an extremely remote possibility after a first set disaster against China’z Ze Zhang when the Irish number one failed to win a game in an opener which his opponent needed only 25 minutes to wrap up.
McGee courageously hauled himself back into contention and levelled at one set all before winning the third for a 0-6 6-4 6-4 scoreline after two hours and two minutes.
McGee, ranked 195th in the world, was all at sea in the opening set after twice pushing Zhang (182) to deuce in the first game.
However, the Castleknock man, who had defeated the 30th seed, India’s Yuki Bhambri, 5-7 6-2 7-5 in the second round on Thursday, provided his supporters with a flicker of hope by breaking China the number one to love in the opening game of the second set before holding for a 2-0 lead.
In the seventh game of the second set, McGee blew a chance to take a 5-2 lead by not converting a break point, but after the next two games went with serve he held to 15 to close out the set.
That encouraging momentum was maintained in the decider, with McGee breaking to 30 in the opening game, and after saving two break points in the second game and three break points in the fourth, he moved 3-1 and then 4-2 in front.
Remarkably, the Irish man broke to love for a 5-2 lead but Zhang broke serve and held his own to claw back to 4-5.
Serving for the match. McGee set up three match points. Zhang fought back to deuce, and then saved another match point before the Irish player finally clinched victory.
