Rising Australian tennis stars Alexei Popyrin and Priscilla Hon have been awarded wildcards into the French Open, which starts later this month in Paris.
Two years ago, Popyrin became the first Australian in almost half a century to win the French Open junior crown.
The 19-year-old confirmed his immense potential with a breakout run to the third round of the Australian Open in January.
He has since climbed to No.109 in the world, just a handful of spots outside the cut-off mark for the clay-court grand slam, after also qualifying for the main draw at ATP events in New York, Acapulco, Indian Wells, Monte Carlo and Estoril.
Also given a taste of Davis Cup action this year by Lleyton Hewitt, Popyrin joins countrymen Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, Matt Ebden, Jordan Thompson and Bernard Tomic in the men’s main draw.
De Minaur will be seeded for the first time at a French Open having cracked the world’s top 30, but Nick Kyrgios needs a deep run at this week’s Rome Masters to avoid being unseeded for the second-straight grand slam event.
Fellow Australians Jason Kubler, Marc Polmans, James Duckworth, Alex Bolt and Thanasi Kokkinakis have entered qualifying, which starts on May 21.
Hon gives Australia six women in the main draw, joining world No.9 Ashleigh Barty, Ajla Tomljanovic, Daria Gavrilova, former finalist Samantha Stosur and WA revelation Astra Sharma.
The 21-year-old Hon successfully qualified for the prestigious WTA event in Indian Wells in March and rose to a career-high No.130 in the world last month.
Kimberly Birrell and Arina Rodionova will attempt to qualify.