Four Australians advanced to the second round at the US Open in what was a highly successful outing on the first day of the tournament.
No.28 seed Alexei Popyrin, Ajla Tomljanovic, Rinky Hijikata and Maya Joint all progressed with relative ease as Popyrin faces the prospect of a blockbuster against defending champion Novak Djokovic in the the third round.
Popyrin, the recently crowned Montreal Masters champion, cruised past South Korean Sonwoon 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 in just over two hours as he barely put a foot wrong to continue building momentum after his first career ATP victory in Canada.
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Popyrin next faces unseeded Spaniard Pedro Martinez.
“I feel like I’ve had a lot of scenarios in my career where I had one more match, and then I would play a big match so I’ve kind of gotten used to focusing on the match that I’ve got in hand,” Popyrin said.
Alexei Popyrin. Getty
“And then if I win that, then, yeah, obviously I’ve got Novak in the third.
“But, honestly, I’m just thinking of this match and not thinking about Novak.”
Tomljanovic eased past American qualifier Ann Li with a 6-4, 6-4 win. She was down a break in the second but forced her way back to take the match in straight sets.
The US-born Joint, 18, scored a massive pay day in defeating German Laura Siegemund 6-4, 7-5 in her grand slam debut.
She regained her composure after letting a 5-0 lead slip in the second set, regaining her composure after letting three match points slide, to close it out on her fourth.
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Joint will play American 14th seed Madison Keys in the next round and will take home at least $192,000, win or lose.
Rinky Hijikata scored a hard-fought 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina,
He will play world No.9 Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the third round. Hijikata and Popyrin are among 12 Australians in this year’s US Open men’s draw, the largest representation of Australian players in 45 years.
Maya Joint in action. Getty
Fellow Australian Kim Birrell bowed out with a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Paris Olympics silver medallist Donna Vekic.
Adam Walton went down to French wildcard Alexandre Muller, while Jason Kubler retired hurt in his first round clash.
Another 13 Australians play on day two, including 10th seed Alex de Minaur opening his campaign against American Marcos Giron.