There will be 20 Australians in main US Open draw after surge in qualifiers

It’s been nearly half a century since there were as many Australians in the main draw of the US Open as there are now, with two seeded men leading the charge.

There will be a massive 20 Australian players in the singles main draws at the US Open, the most since 1979, after six players got through qualifying in New York for the final grand slam of 2024.

Veteran Arina Rodionova was among the final entries in to the main draw at Flushing Meadows, ensuring there will be eight women and 12 men vying for the title, with a trio of qualifiers drawing horror first round opponents.

It’s the first time in US Open history that five Australian women have earnt main-draw berths through qualifying and the first time in 11 years Australia has had qualifiers in both the men’s and women’s singles at the event.

Two Australian men, Alex de Minaur (10) and Alexei Popyrin (28), will be seeded, with de Minaur drawn to face world No.46 Marcos Giron in the opening round in his first match since a hip injury thwarted his Wimbledon campaign last month.

Popyrin, coming off the biggest win in his career at the Montreal Open and put in the same side of the draw as Novak Djokovic, will play Korean Soonwoo Kwon, who has only won two tour-level matches this season.

Alexei Popyrin earnt his seeding a the US Open after winning the ATP Masters 1000 National Bank Open in Montreal. Picture: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFP

Thanasi Kokkinakis has drawn world No.11 Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Max Purcell will take part in an all-Aussie showdown against Aleksandar Vukic.

Three of the Aussie qualifiers, Li Tu, Priscilla Hon and Destanee Aiava, have drawn horror opening round opponents.

Tu will take on world No.3 Carlos Alcaraz, Hon will take on world No.2 and reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, while Aiava has drawn world No.4 Elena Rybakina.

Among the other Australians in the main draw is 18-year-old Maya Joint and Rodionova, 34, who, having become the oldest player to burst into the world’s top 100 for the first time last year, qualified for a major for the first time since 2019 Wimbledon.

Australian tennis great Lleyon Hewitt said the injury interuppted lead-in for de Minaur made it hard to judge how deep he could go at Flushing Meadows.

“It’s a little bit unknown with Alex at the moment. I know he’s been doing absolutely everything in his power to get us close to 100 per cent right for the US Open,” Hewitt said.

“He was desperate to play obviously at the Olympics as well, in singles, and he missed out on that, so there’s certainly been some frustration over the last four or five weeks, and he’s a kid in a hurry.”

The US Open begins on Monday.

US Open 2024

Aussie men opening round (player rank):

Alex de Minaur (AUS) No.10 v Marcos Giron (USA) No.46

Alexei Popyrin (AUS) No.28 v Soonwoo Kwon (KOR) No.342

Jordan Thompson (AUS) No.33 v Constant Lestienne (FRA) No.110

Rinky Hijikata (AUS) No.65 v Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) No.57

James Duckworth (AUS) No.70 v Flavio Cobolli (ITA) No.31

Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) No.84 v Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) No.11

Chris O’Connell (AUS) No.86 v Nicolas Jarry (CHI) No.26

Max Purcell (AUS) No.91 v Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) No.94

Adam Walton (AUS) No.96 v Alexandre Muller (FRA) No.76

Li Tu (AUS) No.188 v Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) No.3

Tristan Schoolkate (AUS) No.195 v Taro Daniel (JPN) No.88

Aussie women:

Daria Saville (AUS) No.93 v Ena Shibahara (JPN) No.218

Arina Rodionova (AUS) No.118 v Wang Xinyu (CHN) No.37

Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) No.119 v Ann Li (USA) No.131

Maya Joint (AUS) No.136 v Laura Siegemund (GER) No.92

Taylah Preston (AUS) No.145 v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova No.26

Kimberly Birrell (AUS) No.147 v Donna Vekic (CRO) No.25

Destanee Aiava (AUS) No.180 v Elena Rybakina (KAZ) No.4

Priscilla Hon (AUS) No.205 v Aryna Sabalenka No.2

Originally published as There will be 20 Australians in main US Open draw after surge in qualifiers