The Grand Slam career of Felix Auger-Aliassime has officially begun. Two years after lifting the US Open trophy as a junior, the 18-year-old made an emphatic statement in qualifying for his first main draw at a major.

Auger-Aliassime became the youngest to qualify for a Grand Slam since a 17-year-old Andrey Rublev at the 2015 US Open, completing a dominant run this week at Flushing Meadows. He punched his ticket without dropping a set, capped by a decisive 6-3, 6-0 win over Gerald Melzer in just 61 minutes on Friday. The #NextGenATP star reeled off the last nine games of the match to seal the victory.

“It feels amazing,” Auger-Aliassime told ATPWorldTour.com following the win. “As a kid it’s something you dream of for a long time. To be in the main draw means I’m already there. I’ve thought about this for a long time. I was able to finish strong and I had the right objectives for every match. I had a good plan and was able to serve well at the right moments and was aggressive constantly.”

The Canadian’s reward? A first-round date with close friend and countryman Denis Shapovalov.

Auger-Aliassime is joined by fellow Next Gen ATP Finals contenders Ugo Humbert and Lloyd Harris in qualifying for their first Grand Slam main draws. Both Humbert and Harris have been dominating on the ATP Challenger Tour as of late and that success translated to the hard courts of New York. The Frenchman defeated Marc Polmans 7-5, 6-2, while the South African ousted JC Aragone 6-4, 6-2.

Humbert, who recently lifted his maiden ATP Challenger Tour trophy in Segovia, Spain, will open against fellow qualifier Collin Altamirano. Harris, a first-time winner in Lexington, U.S.A. earlier this month, faces veteran Gilles Simon.

Altamirano, Donald Young and Mitchell Krueger were the lone Americans to qualify on Friday. Five years removed from making his US Open debut as a wild card, Altamirano earned his way back to Flushing Meadows, not dropping a set all week. He notched impressive wins over seeds Ivo Karlovic and Lorenzo Sonego to book his spot. Meanwhile, Young overcame Peter Polansky 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, and Krueger rallied past Calvin Hemery 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Mitchell Krueger will make his Grand Slam debut in New York

“It feels great, especially being the US Open,” said Krueger. “I’ve always wanted to be in the main draw of a Grand Slam and it’s that much better that it’s the home slam. I earned my way into it. It feels amazing. This is the one thing I wanted. I finally got into the main draw of ATP World Tour events the past few years and I won my first match last year. I can’t put it into words right now. I’m insanely excited.”

It was a dramatic 24 hours for Krueger, as the Texas native registered back-to-back comeback wins to qualify for his first Grand Slam. Having walked off the court at 10:30pm on Thursday after saving three match points, he stormed back from a set and a break down to outlast Hemery in front of a packed Court 11. Krueger has been fighting for his tennis dreams on the ATP Challenger Tour for the past six years. On Friday, those dreams became a reality.

“Yesterday I was lucky that they were all on my own serve,” Krueger added, referring to the match points saved in the second round. “I’m in control of my own destiny. At that point, you just put the ball deep in the court and the margins are so small. And then I didn’t get off the court until past 10pm. It was tough. I tried to get to bed at a normal time. The body can only take so much and the energy was low, but I just stuck in there and fought for every point.”

Casper Ruud qualifies for his third Grand Slam of the year

Other qualifiers include #NextGenATP stars Hubert Hurkacz and Casper Ruud – No. 9 and No. 10 in the ATP Race To Milan – as well as Grand Slam debutant Federico Gaio of Italy and his countryman Stefano Travaglia, Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo, Argentines Facundo Bagnis and Carlos Berlocq, Germany’s Yannick Maden and Austrian Dennis Novak.

Robredo will be making his 15th appearance at the US Open and first since 2015, as he returns to the big stage following a series of injuries. 

Steve Johnson will have a chance at a rare ATP World Tour trifecta on Saturday at the Winston-Salem Open. The American, who beat Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the final, will try to become the first player in 2018 to win a title on three different surfaces.

Johnson won the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship title in Houston (clay) in April and the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open (grass) last month.

The 28-year-old saved six of seven break points and won 52 per cent of his second-serve points against the 2016 champion to reach his third final of the season. “I thought I played really well from the ground. I played smart,” Johnson said.

The eighth seed will face Russian Daniil Medvedev, who breezed past Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-1 in only 65 minutes.

Medvedev, a semi-finalist the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals, won almost 75 per cent of his service points and teed off on Daniel’s second serve, winning 63 per cent of those points.

The Russian will try to win his second ATP World Tour title after capturing his maiden crown in January at the Sydney International. “It’s a great feeling,” Medvedev said. “I just did what I had to do. I’m happy to go through.”

Medvedev leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1, including both of their hard-court matches.

The future of Canadian tennis will be on showcase from the start of the US Open, which begins Monday. The bad news for Canadian tennis fans: One of their brightest #NextGenATP stars won’t survive the first round.

Felix Auger-Aliassime, 18, and Denis Shapovalov, 19, will meet for the first time at tour-level in New York. The two played last year at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Drummondville (indoor hard), with Shapovalov winning 7-5, 6-3.

The left-hander is the 28^th seed and will try to back up his fourth-round run of a year ago (l. to Carreno Busta). Auger-Aliassime qualified to make his Grand Slam main-draw debut.

Both players are in strong contention to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan. Shapovalov is currently third in the ATP Race To Milan; Auger-Aliassime is in 12th place. The top seven players in the Race will qualify automatically, while the eighth spot will be reserved for the winner of an all-Italian qualifier tournament to be held just prior to the prestigious 21-and-under event in Milan.

It will be the second meeting between the teens, having previously clashed at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Drummondville, Canada, last year. Shapovalov prevailed 7-5, 6-3, en route to his first Challenger title. 

Watch Highlights Of Felix vs. Denis In Drummondville 2017

Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime’s countryman Peter Polansky snuck into the US Open main draw as a lucky loser. But the 30-year-old is starting to make that act look like skill. He became the first player to earn a lucky loser spot in all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same year.

He might need a bit of luck during his opener: Polansky faces fourth seed Alexander Zverev. Other notable first-rounders featuring qualifiers include Spanish veteran vs. 15^th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece; home favourite Donald Young vs. third seed and 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro; and Argentine Facundo Bagnis against 2016 semi-finalist Gael Monfils.

If history repeats itself next month, Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau will soon have their third Grand Slam title as a team.

Rojer/Tecau repeated as doubles champions at the Winston-Salem Open on Friday, becoming the first team to do so in the tournament’s eight-year history. The Dutchman/Romanian team beat American Jamie Cerretani and Indian Leander Paes 6-4, 6-2.

The second seeds saved all four break points en route to their 18^th team doubles title (18-4 in finals) and second of the season (Dubai).

“Overall it was a good week. Horia and I came in here looking for some matches. We were lucky enough to play four matches this week so that was the main thing that we were after. So in that sense it was a big success. To win, of course, is always positive,” Rojer said.

The win should give the team, and especially Tecau, a jolt of belief ahead of the US Open, which begins Monday. Before earlier this month at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Tecau hadn’t played since 26 March because of a right foot injury.

“A few weeks ago I had no expectations of winning titles. I’m just very grateful that I’m healthy and can play the game again… I feel like the game is sharpening up and it’s getting towards where I want it,” Tecau said. “It’s really a fulfilling feeling to get a title after so many months of break and also a boost of confidence going into New York.”

Last year, Rojer/Tecau followed up their Winston-Salem title with their first US Open crown and second Grand Slam title (Wimbledon 2015). Perhaps they’ll again face Cerretani/Paes in Flushing Meadows? Rojer/Tecau also beat them for the Dubai crown.

For Juan Martin del Potro, naming his favourite US Open memory can be a tough task. In 2009, the Argentine ended Roger Federer’s 41-match win streak in New York to win his maiden Grand Slam title.

Last year, Del Potro, down two sets to zero and battling a flu and a fever, came back to beat Dominic Thiem 1-6, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. Then Del Potro knocked out Federer again to reach the last four in New York for only the second time (l. to Nadal).

“It was a great battle,” Del Potro said of last year’s Thiem match. “I have a few good memories playing this tournament. One is that match. Then when I obviously won the title in 2009. But every year is different. I have friends coming to watch me here, so will be a little bit special this tournament for me, and what I said, I will try to enjoy the atmosphere that the people create in New York and then play my best tennis.”

Del Potro will try to create more memories during his 10^th US Open, nine years after his his first and still only Grand Slam title. His wrist surgeries that hampered him years ago are a thing of the past, though, and Del Potro is eager for another deep run in Flushing Meadows.

US Open Previews: Nadal | Federer | Murray

“I’m feeling good. I’m in good shape. As everybody knows, this is my favourite tournament on tour, which I have big expectations playing in New York. I’m very excited to start of the tournament, and on Monday will be against a qualifier player, but I will try to enjoy as always I did in this tournament and then see if I can go far,” he said.

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“I think it’s amazing for me just thinking about tennis, don’t talk anymore about the injuries, which is the most important thing to myself and come to this tournament thinking about my highest ranking or my big expectations playing the tournament. It’s the best thing I could feel before a tournament.”

Del Potro enters the season’s final Grand Slam tournament at a career-high No. 3 in the ATP Rankings. He won his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the BNP Paribas Open in March, beating Federer for the seventh time in 25 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings (Federer leads 18-7). The Argentine captured the ATP World Tour 500-level title in Acapulco a week earlier.

Coming back from injury is never easy, even for the best players in the world.

So while Andy Murray has enjoyed success at the US Open before, lifting his first Grand Slam trophy here in 2012, he knows not to dream too big quite yet. Murray did not play after Wimbledon in 2017, and then underwent hip surgery this January. After returning in June at the Fever-Tree Championships, this will be his fifth tournament back.

“My expectation is to give my best effort in the matches. Hopefully if I do that, my tennis will get better. Take each match at a time. It’s kind of difficult to predict how you’re going to do and say how far you’re going to go in the event,” Murray said. “My tennis is getting better all the time. Just need to be on the court more consistently through till the end of the year.”

After losing in the first round of the Western & Southern Open against Lucas Pouille, Murray spent time in Philadelphia to work on his physical fitness before arriving in New York earlier this week to prepare for the campaign’s final Grand Slam.

“It’s been good. It’s been difficult. My tennis has been a bit of stop-starty because after Washington, I took a few days off the court, then built back up again. Then obviously sort of light practising last week,” Murray said. “My body feels better than it did a few weeks ago, so that’s positive. Just being around these players and practising with them more and more on a more consistent basis is going to help me improve.”

This will be the former World No. 1’s first best-of-five-set event in his comeback. But he has played plenty of long matches, with his past four clashes going to a decider.

“I played some long matches in Washington. They were all over two-and-a-half hours, and a three-hour match. Three of them in four days,” Murray said. “The benefit of the Slams is having that day off to recover in between, which will help me.”

Murray is not the only player on the comeback trail. Recent Western & Southern Open champion Novak Djokovic underwent right elbow surgery after the Australian Open, and Stan Wawrinka is continuing to improve after two left knee surgeries last season. Djokovic is already back inside the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings, and Wawrinka pushed the Top 2 players in the world, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, in Toronto and Cincinnati, respectively.

“All injuries are completely different. Some are more serious than others. Someone is out for a few weeks with a muscle injury, it’s very different to somebody recovering from a surgery on certain parts of the body. It’s notoriously more difficult,” Murray said. “I do feel that once my body is right again, which takes time when you haven’t played many matches in a year, I’m sure that my level will be okay to get me competing at the top of the game again.”

And perhaps this is the place for Murray to remind the world what he’s capable of. He won the Boys’ Singles title here in 2004, reached his first major final in 2008 and then earned his maiden major in 2012.

“I have great memories from New York overall from juniors to my first Slam final to then obviously winning my first Grand Slam here. So, yeah, I’ve got lots of great memories,” Murray said. “I’m happy that I’m able to be back competing again here. It was tough missing it last year. I was pretty upset at the time. Yeah, really, really pleased to be back. I’ll try to enjoy it as much as I can.”

And in a way, that’s what this whole comeback boils down to. Murray is trying to take it all in and get as much out of himself as he can as he continues his climb back toward the top of the sport.

“Maybe that’s something to appreciate more while you’ve been away from the game,” Murray said. “It’s been nice. I do want to make sure I make the most of the next few years because you never know exactly what’s around the corner. Obviously 12 months, 14 months ago, I wouldn’t have anticipated what was about to happen.”

But now, Murray is back. And he begins his US Open campaign against Aussie James Duckworth on Monday.