Lleyton Hewitt might not have Alex de Minaur available for upcoming Davis Cup matches, but the Aussie captain will be encouraged by some of the performances from Australia’s leading male players at the US Open. De Minaur, Jordan Thompson and Alexei Popyrin all made at least the third round in New York, while Thompson made the fourth and de Minaur the quarters.

De Minaur ultimately failed to fully recover from the hip injury that saw him withdraw from Wimbledon, and might have to miss the Davis Cup qualifying stages in Spain next week. But with Popyrin, Thompson and Max Purcell, the Aussie team have plenty of weapons.

As well as his march to the fourth round in the singles, Thompson has also advanced to the doubles final with Purcell. And the Sydneysider is in line for a monster payday for his efforts at the hard-court grand slam.

Thompson and Purcell beat Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in the semi-finals on Thursday (Friday Australian time) to edge within one tantalising win of taking the title. The tense victory comes after Thompson and Purcell ousted top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the quarter-finals.

Jordan Thompson a chance at $1 million US Open payday

A win the final would secure Thompson a life-changing cheque for $US700,000 ($AU1.04 million) for a magical fortnight’s work. The 30-year-old is already certain to bank $US325,000 ($A482,000) for reaching the last 16 of the singles, where he lost to de Minaur. And Thompson and Purcell will also split the $US750,000 ($AU1.13 million) winners’ purse if they go all the way and win the final on Saturday (2am Sunday Aussie time).

“It’s incredible. My first full year of doubles and we’ve managed to go to a Wimbledon final and a US Open final and hopefully you can go one better here,” said Thompson, crediting Purcell for carrying him. “It’s not really me. Just ask him about out his shoulders. I was jumping on and now it’s back-to-back finals.”

A first grand slam trophy together would atone somewhat for Thompson and Purcell failing to convert either of two match points they had in a crushing finals loss to Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara in the Wimbledon final in July. Purcell already has a grand slam title to his name, having partnered fellow Australian Matt Ebden to win the Wimbledon men’s doubles two years ago.

“That’s what makes it so special because we’re such good mates and, every time we get a win, I just feel overloaded with happiness,” Purcell said. “Getting that feeling that it’s not just the achievement, it’s who you do it with. I feel like we’ve got such a great camp and we work really hard this year to kind of make it a goal to win a grand slam. So to be one match away again, it’s always really special.”

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Alex de Minaur in doubt for Davis Cup qualifiers

Their charge shows Australian men’s tennis is in safe hands, even if de Minaur has to miss more time due to his hip. “I really don’t know. That’s the honest answer,” de Minaur said when asked if he’d be fit for the 16-nation qualifiers in Valencia from September 10-15.

“I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how, with a couple days, how it pulls up. It’s fine. I dealt with it after Wimbledon. I’ll deal with it after here, and I’ll be back in no time, and hopefully sliding from side to side with not a thought in my head.”

with AAP