A dream match-up against former major champion and Australian star Sam Stosur awaits Shellharbour’s Ellen Perez should she progress to the second round of the US Open this week.
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A favourable draw which saw Perez, 20, avoid all of the top seeds in the opening round has opened the door for an all-Australian duel second-up.
The University of Georgia student will make her major tournament singles debut in the early hours of Tuesday morning when she plays 49th-ranked Shuai Zhang in the opening round at Flushing Meadows. A match with Stosur would more than likely follow if she can progress past her Chinese opponent.
Stosur, ranked 16th in the world, is expected to march past Italian Camila Giorgi in her first round encounter.
For Perez it would be a dream contest on the big stage at a tournament she never expected to be playing just a few weeks ago.
“A couple of weeks ago I was thinking ‘the US Open is coming around, I can’t wait to watch it on TV’,” she told website The Red and Black.
“So, I was not really expecting [to be playing].”
Perez, ranked No. 723 in the world, qualified for the tournament last week by winning Australia’s women’s US Open wildcard play-off.
She upset highly-rated Australian number two seed Ash Barty 6-4 6-3 in the final, 24 hours after beating top seed Arina Rodionova.
Tennis Australia invited Perez to the qualifying tournament following a stellar run of form on the US collegiate circuit and in Europe.
She won an ITF $10,000 singles tournament in Brussels in July before making the final of another event the following month.
Her doubles form was also strong on the European tour.
Perez claimed three ITF $10,000 doubles tournaments while overseas in the college off-season.
She will look to bring that form to the US Open in a first-round match she described to the Illawarra Mercury ‘life changing’.
Zhang has never made it past the first round of the US Open from three attempts in the main draw.
The Chinese right-hander had her best performance in a major earlier this year when she made the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Coincidently, Perez’s major debut came at the same tournament.
The South Coast talent played doubles at the Australian Open after she was awarded a wildcard spot at the tournament.
She was knocked out in the first round alongside fellow Australian partner Belinda Woolcock.
US OPEN
Round 1
Shuai Zhang v Ellen Perez
Tuesday – 12am
