The 2017 US Open Women’s tournament is one of the most open and unpredictable in recent memory. With rankings so close at the top of the game, eight different women have a chance of emerging from the tournament with the World No.1 ranking.
The biggest news in the draw is that former champion and wildcard entrant Maria Sharapova will take on 2nd seed Simona Halep in the first round. It is Sharapova’s first grand slam event since her ban for the use of the banned substance Meldonium was completed.
Last year’s runner-up Karolina Pliskova is the top seed, and she has a tough section that includes Kristina Mladenovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Agnieszka Radwanska. Kuznetsova is her seeded opponent for the quarter-finals as the 8th seed.
4th seed Elina Svitolina is also in the top half of the draw, in the same quarter as 6th seed and defending champion Angelique Kerber. Svitolina could face Madison Keys or Elena Vesnina in the fourth round and Eugenie Bouchard as early as the second round. Kerber could face a tricky opponent in Roland Garros Opponent Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round. Kerber starts against Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
The 3rd quarter is perhaps the toughest, with 5th seed Caroline Wozniacki, 9th seed Venus Williams, and 3rd seed Garbine Muguruza. Wozniacki has an especially tough draw with Ekaterina Makarova, Carla Suarez Navarro, and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in her section. Lucic-Baroni has a tough start against Olympic gold medallist Monica Puig. Muguruza has perhaps a kinder draw, at least through the early rounds though she could face Petra Kvitova in the fourth round.
Looking beyond the high-profile first round for Halep, the Romanian has Britain’s Johanna Konta for company in the 4th quarter. Ana Konjuh and Dominika Cibulkova are also in attendance in the last quarter.
Potential Quarter-finals:
(1) Karolina Pliskova vs (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova
(2) Simona Halep vs (7) Johanna Konta
(3) Garbine Muguruza vs (5) Caroline Wozniacki
(4) Elina Svitolina vs (6) Angelique Kerber
More to follow.
