A Look intoAustralians at the 2023 US Open

Alex De Minaur headlines the Aussies who are still in play at the US Open while AjlaTomljanovic returned from injury in style. 

The season’s final Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows in New York City is up and running and Australia is well represented. Alex De Minaur, Chris O’Connell, and RinkyHijikata advanced to round two on the men’s side while AjlaTomljanovic and Daria Saville did so for the ladies. 

De Minaur’s Prospects of a Deep Run

As has been the case all season long, Alex De Minaur is the highest seeded Australian at this tournament. As the 13 seed he took down qualifier Timofey Skatov in four sets in round one. 

He is now set to face Yibing Wu in round two and as the heavy favourite, will look to make quick work of the Chinese world no. 86. 

De Minaur is having a very successful hard court season having made the finals in two of his four tournaments prior to the US Open. This includes a Masters 1000 final in Toronto, Canada where he took down three opponents ranked in the top 13 of the world rankings. 

He will look to continue this strong play en route to a deep run at Flushing Meadows. His best ever result here came in 2020 with a quarterfinal finish. Matching that result or surpassing it would be enough to consider the year’s final grand slam a massive success for the top Aussie. 

His path to get to that point is not easy. Should he win his round two match he projects to face 23 seeded Nicolas Jarry in round three. 

Then, if the draw held form, he would matchup with Daniil Medvedev in the round of 16. Medvedev is the three seed and would be favoured in a matchup with De Minaur. However, De Minaur would certainly be able to draw confidence from the fact that he defeated Medvedev in Toronto less than a month ago. He took down Medvedev in two straight sets in the quarterfinal.

It will not be easy, but with the way Alex De Minaur has been performing recently, he certainly has a chance at making a deep US Open run. 

Unranked O’Connell and Hijikata into Second Round

Chris O’Connell and RinkyHijikata join De Minaur as Aussie men in the second round. 

O’Connell, the world’s 69th ranked man defeated countryman Max Purcell in four sets in round one to advance. He is now a heavy underdog facing Daniil Medvedev in round two. 

Hijikata is ranked 110th in the world and was able to take down Pavel Kotov in four sets in his opening match. He is now squaring off with unranked MartonFucsovics in round two and though Hijikata is the underdog, a win is not all that unlikely. 

Tomljanovic’s Triumphant Return

AjlaTomljanovicplayed her first competitive match of the year in round one of the US Open after battling a knee injury for the past 10 months. 

Remarkably, last year’s surprise quarterfinalist was able to achieve victory by way of a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 result against Panna Udvardy. 

The win meant a lot for Tomljanovic who was in tears after the match and later told reporters “…I’ve been working for this. Just this two hours of pure adrenaline, joy, and problem solving, and competing.”

She now must turn her attention to a tough second round matchup with fourth seeded Elena Rybakina. 

Saville Matched up with Swiatek

Daria Saville crushed American ClervieNgounoue 6-0, 6-2 in round one to progress to the round of 64. 

Unfortunately for her, IgaSwiatek was her second round foe. Saville fought hard but ultimately fell in straight sets to the world no.1. 

For Aussies at the US Open, Alex De Minaur has the best odds of making a deep run while Chris O’Connell and RinkyHijikata look for career best finishes. AjlaTomljanovic is back after a 10-month injury hiatus and Daria Saville got to the second round before falling to world no.1 IgaSwiatek.