By Marc McGowan
A historic US Open qualifying performance has ensured Australia will have its strongest main draw singles representation in New York for 45 years.
Late-bloomer Li Tu joined five countrywomen – teenage sensation Maya Joint, resurgent Destanee Aiava, Priscilla Hon, Arina Rodionova and Kim Birrell – in qualifying for the last grand slam of the year, on an extraordinary day for Australian tennis.
Alex de Minaur leads a strong Australian charge at the US Open.Credit: AP
One-time junior prodigy Aiava, who has spoken often about her mental health challenges, emotionally embraced her fiance Corey Gaal after downing former world No.20 Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-2 to qualify.
The result backs up the excitement for what is belatedly developing on the women’s side, at a time when 10 Australian men are ranked inside the top 100.
Twenty Australians, headlined by No.10 seed Alex de Minaur, will feature in the US Open main draw, matching the country’s effort from the 1979 tournament, when 14 men and six women were in contention.
Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Kerry Reid (nee Melville) reached the quarter-finals that year.
De Minaur will face American Marcos Giron, who won the Newport title last month but has lost three straight contests since, in his first match since withdrawing before his Wimbledon quarter-final against Novak Djokovic with a cartilage tear in his right hip.
The draw was not kind to some of Australia’s qualifiers though, with Tu meeting four-time grand slam champion and 2022 US Open winner Carlos Alcaraz, while Aiava and Hon start against fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina and dual Australian Open titlist Aryna Sabalenka, respectively.
Another qualifier, Birrell, will need to beat Olympic silver medallist and Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic to make the second round.
Alexei Popyrin, who is seeded at a major for the first time thanks to his breakthrough Montreal title triumph, is on a third-round collision course with Novak Djokovic but must first negotiate South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon.
Australian tennis player Li Tu has qualified for the US Open.Credit: Joe Armao
Popyrin has already locked horns twice this year with Djokovic at slams, taking a set off the Serbian legend at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
De Minaur is again projected to take on seventh-seeded Pole Hubert Hurkacz in the last 16, as they were at Wimbledon, only for Frenchman Arthur Fils to upset Hurkacz before that match-up eventuated.
The 25-year-old, who will attempt to become the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004-05 to make three consecutive major quarter-finals, played doubles at the Paris Olympics with Popyrin.
However, the extent of de Minaur’s singles involvement since Wimbledon is playing at this week’s Ultimate Tennis Showdown event in New York, where he beat Denis Shapovalov in an abbreviated format to advance to the semi-finals.
Australia’s US Open draw
Men (12)
Chris O’Connell v 26-Nicolas Jarry (Chile), Max Purcell v Aleks Vukic, Thanasi Kokkinakis v 11-Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece), WC-Tristan Schoolkate v Taro Daniel (Japan), James Duckworth v 31-Flavio Cobolli (Italy), Q-Li Tu v 3-Carlos Alcaraz (Spain), 10-Alex de Minaur v Marcos Giron (US), Jordan Thompson v Constant Lestienne (France), Adam Walton v WC-Alexandre Muller (France), Rinky Hijikata v Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spain), 28-Alexei Popyrin v Soonwoo Kwon (South Korea).
Women (8)
Daria Saville v Q-Ena Shibahara (Japan), WC-Taylah Preston v 25-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Q-Destanee Aiava v 4-Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan), Q-Arina Rodionova v Wang Xinyu (China), Q-Kim Birrell v 24-Donna Vekic (Croatia), Q-Maya Joint v Laura Siegemund (Germany), Ajla Tomljanovic v Q-Ann Li (US), Q-Priscilla Hon v 2-Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus).
Thanasi Kokkinakis, Chris O’Connell and James Duckworth have difficult openers against Greek 11th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, Chile’s No.26 seed Nicolas Jarry and 31st-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli, respectively.
That trio joined Aleks Vukic and Max Purcell – who will face off in an all-Australian affair – as well as de Minaur, Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Rinky Hijikata and Adam Walton as direct entrants to the men’s draw.
Wildcard recipient Tristan Schoolkate and qualifier Tu make it a 12-strong men’s contingent. Tu ousted Dutchman Jesper De Jong 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 to punch his ticket to the main draw.
Hijikata made a shock run to the fourth round last year, but the draw did him no favours, with tough Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina first-up before a potential showdown with No.9 seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Veterans Daria Saville and Ajla Tomljanovic, 18-year-old wildcard Taylah Preston and qualifiers Joint, Aiava, Hon, Rodionova and Birrell are Australia’s representatives in the women’s draw.
Preston’s US Open debut will be against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 25th seed, while Saville and Tomljanovic drew respective qualifiers Ena Shibahara and Ann Li.
American-born Joint, 18, was unlucky not to score Tennis Australia’s reciprocal wildcard after slashing her ranking by more than 600 spots this year to a career-high No.136, but qualified, anyway, to put an exclamation mark on her breakout year.
Her 6-2, 6-1 demolition of world No.102 Hailey Baptiste earned her a first-round shot at German Laura Siegemund.
Rodionova swept aside Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-2, Hon overcame the top seed in qualifying, Kamilla Rakhimova, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, and Birrell took out 15-year-old American Julieta Pareja 6-3, 6-3.
Another Australia up-and-comer, Talia Gibson, lost her final-round qualifying match 6-3, 6-4 to Spanish world No.115 Marina Bassols Ribera.
The US Open begins in the early hours of Tuesday, and will be broadcast on Nine and Stan.
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