World No.1 Ash Barty faces a tough road to a second Grand Slam this season while unseeded Nick Kyrgios could struggle to make it out of the first round of the draw for the US Open.
Barty opens her campaign against Russia’s Vera Zvonareva and faces a potential second round clash against rising French star Clara Burel. She also faces the possibility of crossing paths with US 13th seed Jen Brady in the round of 16.
The world No.1 will possibly meet French Open champion Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals, and then either 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu or Karolina Pliskova in the semi-finals.
The possible women’s quarterfinal pairings by seeding are No.1 Barty against No.7 Swiatek, No.4 Pliskova against No. 6 Andreescu, Naomi Osaka against No. 5 Elina Svitolina, and No.2 Aryna Sabalenka against No.8 Barbora Krejcikova.
Kyrgios will face off against Spain’s 18th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round, with Canadian 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime a possible third round foe and fifth seed Andrey Rublev a potential round of 16 opponent.
Kyrgios withdrew from the Winston-Salem Open with a knee problem and goes into Flushing Meadows under an injury cloud.
Fourteenth seed Alex de Minaur has been put on a course to potentially meet grand-slam chasing world No.1 Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.
Djokovic will begin his bid to win the US Open for a men’s-record 21st major tennis championship and to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam by facing a player who comes through qualifying.
Win that, and Djokovic’s potential path — as determined by the official draw — could include 2014 finalist Kei Nishikori in the third round, No. 6 seed Matteo Berretini in the quarterfinals in a rematch of last month’s Wimbledon final and No.4 Alexander Zverev, the 2020 runner-up in New York, in the semifinals.
Osaka’s first Grand Slam action since she withdrew from the French Open following a first-round victory to take a mental health break will come against Marie Bouzkova, a 23-year-old from the Czech Republic who is ranked 86th and has a 1-10 career record at the majors, including 0-3 at Flushing Meadows. Osaka won their only previous encounter in straight sets at last year’s Australian Open.
Looking past that, Osaka could face 17-year-old American Coco Gauff — whom she beat in New York in 2019 and lost to at Melbourne Park in 2020 — or three-time major champion Angelique Kerber in the fourth round. Osaka, seeded No.3, is the reigning champion at the US Open, one of her four major titles, which all have come on hard courts.
Main draw play starts Monday with spectators allowed at full capacity, a year after all fans were banned because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The No.1-seeded Djokovic is the first man to head to Flushing Meadows after having won a season’s first three major titles since Rod Laver went four for four at the Slams in 1969. That was Laver’s second true Grand Slam, after 1962; Don Budge in 1938 is the only other man to win all four majors in a single year. Steffi Graf in 1988 was the last woman to do it.
The other potential men’s quarterfinal matchups are Zverev vs. No.7 Denis Shapovalov, No.2 Daniil Medvedev vs. No.8 Casper Ruud, and No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. No.5 Andrey Rublev.
In the first round, Tsitsipas will meet Andy Murray, whose three Grand Slam titles include the 2012 US Open.
Djokovic, Murray and No. 30 Marin Cilic, who beat Nishikori at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the final seven years ago, are the only players in the 128-player men’s bracket who already have won a Grand Slam trophy in singles.
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