Serena given difficult path to make final

NEW YORK: Serena Williams, who is aiming for a recordequalling 24th grand slam title at this year’s US Open, was handed a difficult path to the final after being drawn yesterday in the same quarter as older sister Venus and world No 1 Simona Halep.

Serena, a sixtime 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 fourthround showdown with Romanian top seed Halep.

In the men’s draw, Rafael Nadal, who last year won his third crown at Flushing Meadows, starts his defence against fellow Spaniard and longtime Davis Cup teammate David Ferrer, while second seed Roger Federer meets Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, who could face Federer in the last eight, starts against Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.

Defending women’s champion Sloane Stephens will play Russian Evgeniya Rodina in the opening round and could face former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, in the third, Belgian 15th seed Elise Mertens in the fourth and seventhseeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.

Top seed Halep faces Estonian Kaia Kanepi while Danish world No 2 Caroline Wozniacki meets former US Open winner Samantha Stosur, of Australia, in the first round.

Another champion, Russia’s 2004 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, is drawn against 16thseeded Venus in her opener.

Fivetime major winner Maria Sharapova is in German Angelique Kerber’s quarter of the draw and could face 10th seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the third round, the winner potentially meeting either sixthseeded Caroline Garcia, of France, or Spanish 30th seed Carla Suarez Navarro in the last 16.

French Open champion Nadal could face South African Wimbledon runnerup Kevin Anderson, the fifth seed, in the last eight in what would be a rematch of the 2017 US Open final.

For Anderson to get that far he would have to navigate a path that could include matches against Austrian Dominic Thiem, Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who last year reached the fourth round, and Sam Querrey.

While Federer, who won the most recent of his five US Open titles in 2008, is in the same quarter of the draw as twice champion and sixthseeded Serb Novak Djokovic, the Swiss also has Australian Nick Kyrgios as a possible thirdround opponent.

British former world No 1 Andy Murray, who returned this year after surgery on a hip injury and is playing his first grand slam since his run to the 2017 Wimbledon quarterfinals, opens against Australian James Duckworth.

Should the unseeded Murray advance, he would face Fernando Verdasco or Feliciano Lopez, of Spain, in the second round before a projected thirdround clash against Argentine third seed and 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro.

The US Open begins on Monday. — Reuters