Emma Raducanu has averted the highest seeds within the first two rounds of the US Open however she nonetheless faces a difficult path as she tries to transform her current optimistic type into her first match win in New York since her shock triumph here four years ago.
Britain’s Raducanu, who’s unseeded, will open her event in opposition to a qualifier. Nonetheless, she may face the in-form twenty fourth seed Veronika Kudermetova, a current semi-finalist on the Cincinnati Open, in spherical two. A possible third-round opponent is a resurgent Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion and another semi-finalist in Cincinnati last week.
Final 12 months marked a low point for Raducanu as she lost in the first round after lacking a lot of the US hard-court swing. This time, she is as match-tough as she has been over the previous few years, establishing a persistently excessive degree over the previous few months and pushing Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1, to a final-set tie-break in their three-hour tussle in Cincinnati. Now ranked No 35, Raducanu missed out on being seeded in New York by only one spot.
In his return to singles competitors, Raducanu’s fellow British participant Jack Draper can even face a qualifier or fortunate loser in his opening-round match. Draper, seeded fifth, has not competed in singles since Wimbledon after being recognized with a left forearm damage. Nonetheless, he appeared wholesome and nicely ready throughout his semi-final run in the mixed doubles competitors alongside Jessica Pegula earlier this week.
One 12 months on from his breakthrough run to the US Open semi-final, Draper has been drawn into Jannik Sinner’s quarter, however a quarter-final rematch together with his previous pal is a great distance away with high quality opponents comparable to Gabriel Diallo, Lorenzo Musetti and Flavio Cobolli in his part.
The ladies’s subject is headed by Sabalenka, who will open her title defence in opposition to the world No 109, Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland. Rybakina, who she may meet within the quarter-finals, is essentially the most harmful participant in her part earlier than the semi-finals and Pegula, the fourth seed, is the second highest seed within the prime half.
Coco Gauff, the third seed, has been drawn into No 2-seeded Iga Swiatek’s half of the draw as she tries to search out her means once more after a tough interval since her French Open win in June. Swiatek is in unbelievable type having won titles at Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Open in current weeks. The Pole, who begins the event as heavy favorite, will face Emiliana Arango of Colombia within the opening spherical. Venus Williams, in the meantime, has been drawn in opposition to the eleventh seed Karolina Muchova in her twenty fifth look on the US Open. Williams is the oldest entrant in the tournament in 44 years.
Within the males’s draw, Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, the highest two seeds, will try to consolidate their domination of males’s tennis with a 3rd consecutive grand slam remaining assembly and fifth consecutive remaining total. Sinner will start his title defence in opposition to Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic and together with a possible quarter-final in opposition to Draper, the third seed Alexander Zverev is his projected semi-final opponent.
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Alcaraz, nevertheless, has been handed an especially difficult first-round opponent within the big-serving Reilly Opelka, a former No 17 who stands at 6ft 11in. Whereas the fourth seed Taylor Fritz – last year’s beaten finalist – is Alcaraz’s projected semi-final opponent by seeding, the seventh seed Novak Djokovic, who has been the most effective grand slam performer behind Sinner and Alcaraz this 12 months with three consecutive semi-finals, looms in Fritz’s quarter. The 38-year-old, nevertheless, has not competed since Wimbledon.
Loads of tough first-round matches await the remainder of the British contingent in New York. Katie Boulter will face the twenty seventh seed Marta Kostyuk and Sonay Kartal will line up in opposition to Beatriz Haddad Maia, the 18th seed. Cameron Norrie will play in opposition to the gifted American shotmaker Sebastian Korda, whereas Jacob Fearnley has been drawn in opposition to the Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut.
