Seven years, seven attempts, seven failures. Sunitha Rao had been on the verge of making it to the 2007 U.S. Open singles event, but a 6-4, 6-4 loss to 78th-ranked Zi Yan of China put paid to her dream.

Rao has been playing in the qualifiers at Flushing Meadows each year since 2001, but had never gone past the second round. This year, the U.S.-based Indian had come closest to her goal - just one match away from the main draw.

The 21-year-old's third-round loss was not unexpected, given the wide gap that separated the world No. 219 from the second-seeded Zi in the WTA rankings. But Rao's wins over players ranked above her in the first two rounds of qualifying had raised expectations of the Florida-based player joining Ifellow Indian Sania Mirza in the singles main draw.

'Rao has been playing in the qualifiers at Flushing Meadows each year since 2001, but had never gone past the second round'

Ironically, the Chinese player had also beaten Rao in the first round of qualifying at the 2003 edition of the Grand Slam. Zi now leads their head-to-head tally 3-1 with Rao having snatched a lone win at Strasbourg in 2005.

Earlier this week, Rao defeated 125th-ranked Varvara Lepchenko of Uzbekistan and 218th-ranked Romanian Monica Niculescu in the US Open qualifiers.

With Neha Uberoi (playing for the U.S.) also succumbing in the first round of qualifying, Mirza remains the only Indian-origin player in the singles main draw of the year's final Grand Slam