Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep have been given tough first round encounters at the US Open as a former US Open final will be revisited in the Women’s draw.
Simona Halep’s bid to win the US Open for a first time will go through a powerful first round obstacle as she faces Montreal champion Camila Giorgi.
Should Halep overcome that match then Elena Rybakina, Daria Kasatkina and Elina Svitolina could stand in the Romanian’s path to the last eight.
In the other section of the third quarter, defending champion Naomi Osaka will face Marie Bouzkova in round one with Yulia Putintseva potentially awaiting in the last 32.
Angelique Kerber and Coco Gauff could be Osaka’s fourth round opponents. Kerber who has recently showed grand slam contenders form will face Dayana Yastremska in the opening round.
While Gauff will face Poland’s Magda Linette in round one but in round two the teenage sensation will await the winner of Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys which is a rematch of the 2017 final.
In the bottom quarter, Aryna Sabalenka’s quest for a maiden grand slam may have to go through San Jose champion Danielle Collins as she will await in the last 32.
Collins will face Carla Suarez Navarro in her opening round while Sabalenka will have to overcome Nina Stojanovic in her opening round.
Other stand-out opening round matches in the bottom quarter are Ons Jabeur v Alize Cornet, Garbine Muguruza v Donna Vekic and Victoria Azarenka v Tereza Martincova.
Sabalenka’s potential quarter-finalist is Roland Garros winner Barbora Krejcikova who faces a qualifier in the opening round.
Moving into the top half of the draw and the favourite for the Women’s title is undoubtedly Ash Barty.
The world number one recently won Wimbledon and Cincinnati with the Australian facing Vera Zvonareva in her US Open opener.
Veronika Kudermetova, Karolina Muchova and Jennifer Brady are potential obstacles en route to the quarter-finals.
Should Barty reach the last eight then she could face Iga Swiatek who starts against a qualifier.
Swiatek should be wary of potential dangerous hard court players such as Anett Kontaveit, Jessica Pegula and Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic, who starts against Arantxa Rus.
In the bottom quarter is Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova who starts against Caty McNally. The fourth seed could face Petra Martic in the last 32 with Paula Badosa or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova awaiting in the last 16.
Maria Sakkari appears in the other-section of the draw where she faces an intriguing opening round against Marta Kostyuk. Should Sakkari progress to the third round then the Greek could meet Petra Kvitova who meets Polona Hercog.
Finally Bianca Andreescu who couldn’t defend her title last year begins her 2021 campaign against Viktorija Golubic with Jelena Ostapenko possibly awaiting in the last 32.
The main draw kicks off on Monday, here is the full draw:
