RTE Sport wrote:Niland and Sorenson reach US Open main draw
Conor Niland and Louk Sorenson have both reached the US Open main draw at Flushing Meadows, having come through the qualifying tournament.
This will be the first time in history that two Irishmen will contest the main draw at the event.
Niland's three-set victory against Dutch opponent Matwe Middelkoop means the Limerick man has qualified for the main draw at a second consecutive grand slam.
The Irish number one recorded a battling 2-6 6-1 6-4 win against Middelkoop in just under two hours in the third, and final round, of qualifying.
Sorenson defeated the world's 202nd-ranked player Martin Fischer of Austria in straight sets 7-6 (7/2) 6-1 to also reach the US Open main draw.
He took one hour and 32 minutes to do away with Fischer in New York. The Irishman ruthlessly converting four out of four break points to ensure his place in the competition proper.
Niland, currently ranked 199 in the world, saw off Slovakia's Pavol Cervenak and Chinese Taipei's Tsung-Hua Yang in the earlier rounds.
The Limerick man also reached the first round at Wimbledon in June.
Sorensen had earlier recorded a 6-4 6-1 victory against Portugal's Gastao Elias to set up the clash with Fischer.
The victory over Elias made a mockery of Sorenson's world ranking of 614 with an authoritative win against a player ranked more than 300 places above him.
It's difficult to describe how big an achievement this is for Irish tennis. When you consider that before this year no Irishman had made the main draw of a Grand Slam singles event since 1977 (excluding Matt Doyle's appearances under the stars and stripes), 2011 has been simply phenomenal. Both of these guys made the main draw of the Australian Open in January, with Sorensen reaching the second round. Niland made the main draw in Wimbledon before losing a tight match, and with it the chance to face Federer in the second round. Now the duo have repeated their feat down under by winning three rounds of qualifying, several of which were against players ranked much higher than them, to make the main draw in New York.
Niland has just been drawn against Djokovic in the first round, while Sorenson has drawn Robin Soderling. Although it means that the Irish interest in the main draw may be short-lived, it's a great chance for these guys to showcase their skills on a truly global stage. Both matches are almost certain to be played on the Arthur Ashe Stadium, in front of 22,500 people (plus a few million more worldwide!).
"Hickie, scorching down the wing... God, I've missed saying that!" - Ryle Nugent
