Less than a couple of minutes after reaching the US Open for the first time, Francesca Jones rummaged in her racquet bag and grabbed her mobile phone.

The 24-year-old Briton wanted to ring her mother Adele, who is back home in the UK because she could not get a dog sitter.

Sharing the elation of coming through three rounds of qualifying was Jones’ instant reaction to beating Dutch opponent Arianne Hartono.

“My parents don’t get to travel with me everywhere so I made sure I can share those moments with them as soon as I can,” Jones told BBC Sport after sealing her place in the main draw in New York.

“I want them to feel as part of it as possible, considering how much they’ve sacrificed to give me opportunities.

“They’re not here because a dog sitter wasn’t available – the dogs come first!”

After sealing her 6-2 6-4 victory with an ace, Jones covered her face with joy and ran over to hug the members of her team sitting courtside.

Jones was born with a genetic condition which means she has three fingers and a thumb on each hand, three toes on her right foot and four toes on her left.

Doctors told the Yorkshire-born player to forget about playing tennis professionally – but she beat the odds after moving to Spain as a teenager.

Learning her craft on the clay was a different path to many Britons, and her way into the US Open main draw has been typically unconventional.

Jones was the top seed in the women’s qualifying draw after just falling short of the cut-off date for automatic entry.

Since then, she has cracked the world’s top 100 for the first time, moving up to 86th after winning back-to-back titles on the WTA 125 tour – the rung below the main tour.

“I’ve always done things differently – so why should I change now?” Jones said.