Melbourne VIC, Australia, 3 August 2015 | tennis.com.au

Eight Australians will feature in action in Washington DC as the North American hard court season moves into full swing.

Six Aussie men – Bernard Tomic, Lleyton Hewitt, Sam Groth, James Duckworth, Marinko Matosevic and John-Patrick Smith – are entered into the 64-player ATP 500 event, headlined by top two seeds Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori.

In the concurrent women’s draw, Sam Stosur is the tournament’s second seed and is joined in the main draw by compatriot and Fed Cup teammate Jarmila Gajdosova.

Tomic leads the Aussie men’s charge as the 11th seed, and has been awarded a first round bye.

> view the ATP Washington main draw

He will face the winner of the match between American Steve Johnson and Slovak Lukas Lacko.

Also in the top half of the draw with Tomic is Matosevic, who qualified for the main draw after winning two matches in qualifying.

It is the first time this season that the Victorian – currently ranked 169th – has won consecutive matches; his next assignment is a first-round match against Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans.

Also qualifying for the main draw was Smith, who landed in the bottom half of the draw loaded with Aussies.

In the first round he faces Hewitt, who was awarded a main draw wildcard.

The winner of that match moves through to a second-round meeting with No.7 seed Feliciano Lopez.

Groth has also landed in the same section of the draw, coming up against Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci for the chance to face ninth seed Viktor Troicki in round two.

Duckworth has found himself in a tough section; should he get past American qualifier Ryan Harrison in the first round, Nishikori awaits.

In the women’s draw, Stosur will take on big-hitting Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, whom she defeated to win the WTA title in Strasbourg in May.

She is projected to meet No.8 seed Zarina Diyas in the quarterfinals, and fourth seed and defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semis.

It is Stosur’s first appearance in Washington, after the Aussie departed from her usual schedule of contesting Stanford.

> view the WTA Washington main draw

Gajdosova faces a qualifier – Brit Naomi Broady – in her opening-round match and a likely second-round meeting with No.1 seed Ekaterina Makarova should she progress.

On the opposite coast of the United States, Aussies Daria Gavrilova and Ajla Tomljanovic will feature in the action at the WTA Premier event in Stanford.

Gavrilova tackles No.5 seed Angelique Kerber in what will be their third meeting of 2015; already they have met this year in Brisbane and Sydney, with Kerber coming out on top of two tense matches.

Tomljanovic takes on Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko, with the winner facing a likely second-round meeting with seventh seed Madison Keys.

> view the WTA Stanford main draw