Federer, Djokovic may lock horns in last eight
Swiss ace had lost to Serbian in Cincinnati final
NEW YORK: Five-time champion Roger Federer could find himself up against Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the US Open, where Serena and Venus Williams could meet in a third-round blockbuster.
Federer, the second seed, opens against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, anchoring a bottom quarter of the men’s singles draw announced on Thursday that also features sixth-seeded Djokovic, the reigning Wimbledon champion who bested the Swiss great in the final at Cincinnati last week.
Top-seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal opens his defense against a familiar foe in fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in a rematch of their 2013 French Open final.
It will be a 31st career meeting between the Davis Cup teammates, with Nadal leading the series 24-6.
Andy Murray, playing his first Grand Slam since Wimbledon of last year and still battling to regain full fitness in the wake of January hip surgery, was handed a relatively gentle return to the major stage, drawing Australian James Duckworth, ranked 445th in the world, in the opening round.
If the Scot, who won his first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows in 2012, gets past Duckworth he would face either Fernando Verdasco or Feliciano Lopez in the second round before a possible third-round clash with third-seed Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 US Open winner.
SERENA HANDED TOUGH PATH
NEWYORK: Serena Williams, who is aiming for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title at this year’s US Open, was handed a difficult path to the final after being drawn on Thursday in the same quarter as older sister Venus and world No 1 Simona Halep. Serena, a six-times champion in New York who is seeded 17th, will start her campaign against Polish world No 60 Magda Linette and could face Venus in the third round before a possible fourth-round showdown with Romanian Halep.
In her last bid to match Australian Margaret Court’s record haul of Grand Slam titles, the 36-year-old Williams, who missed last year’s US Open due to her pregnancy, came up one win shy as she fell to German Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final.
Defending women’s champion Sloane Stephens will play Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina in the opening round and could face former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka in the third, Elise Mertens in the fourth and seventh-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals. Top seed Halep faces Kaia Kanepi while world No 2 Caroline Wozniacki meets former US Open winner Samantha Stosur of in the first round.