Australia will have its biggest contingent at a US Open in almost half a century after a record six players successfully qualified for the season's final grand slam in New York.
Spearheaded by world No.10 Alex de Minaur, Australia will have 20 players in the singles main draws at Flushing Meadows, the same number as 1979 when the great Evonne Goolagong Cawley led the charge.
De Minaur and fellow seed Alexei Popyrin are among 10 men in the top 100 who gained direct entry alongside women's veterans Daria Saville and 2022 quarter-finalist Ajla Tomljanovic.
Wildcards Tristan Schoolkate and Taylah Preston boosted the guaranteed starters to 14 before late-blooming Li Tu, teenager Maya Joint, veteran Arina Rodionova, along with Kim Birrell, Priscilla Hon and Destanee Aiava all won final-round qualifying matches on Friday.
The mighty effort marks the first time in US Open history that five Australian women have earned 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 Flushing Meadows.
South Australian Tu gallantly saved two match points in an epic 3-6 6-1 7-5 win over Dutch sixth seed Jesper de Jong to earn a spot in an overseas slam for the first time.
And the 28-year-old's reward is a dream showcourt showdown with third-seeded Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion who claimed his maiden major in New York two years ago.
The world No.188 Tu joins de Minaur, Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Rinky Hijikata, James Duckworth, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Chris O'Connell, Max Purcell, Aleksandar Vukic, Adam Walton and Schoolkate in the men's main draw.
The super impressive Joint, still just 18, secured a grand slam main-draw debut with a 6-2 6-1 trouncing of American world No.106 Hailey Baptiste, the tournament's third seed.
Joint will face German Laura Siegemund in the opening round.
Hon advanced with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 victory over Russian top seed Kamilla Rakhimova for her best grand-slam result since the 2020 Australian Open.
For her toils, Hon will take on two-time Australian Open champion and second seed Aryna Sabalenka in another big-stage encounter.
World No.180 Aiava upset Croatia's 2016 US Open quarter-finalist and former junior singles champion Ana Konjuh 6-3 6-2 for her third-straight victory over a high-ranked rival this week.
It doesn't get any easier, though, for Aiava, who has been pitted against fourth-seeded former Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina.
After falling in the final round of qualifying last year, Birrell went a step further with a 6-3 6-3 win over 15-year-old American wildcard Julieta Pareja.
Birrell's victory secured a first-round date with Paris Olympics silver medallist Donna Vekic, the 24th seed.
Rodionova qualified for a major for the first time since 2019 Wimbledon, with a 6-4 6-2 defeat of Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew.
The 34-year-old Rodionova opens against China's Xinyu Wang as eight Australian women feature in the main draw for the first time in 35 years.
