2018 U.S. Open Draw: Serena, Venus Williams Could Meet in Third Round
The 2018 U.S. Open men's and women's draw was announced Thursday.
The tournament begins Monday, Aug. 27, at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
Current world No. 1s Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep are the event's No. 1 seeds for the men's and women's draws, respectively.
Nadal enters as the tournament's reigning men's champion after defeating Kevin Anderson last year. He will face countryman David Ferrer in the opening round. The three-time U.S. Open winner is coming off a win over Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Canadian Open, his fifth title this season. Earlier this year, the Spaniard won a record 11th French Open title.
Nadal's co-favorites are Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Federer, a five-time U.S. champion who last won in 2008, is the No. 2 seed; Djokovic, a two-time winner who has reached six of the last eight U.S. Open finals, is seeded No. 6 after sitting out the event last season with an elbow injury.
Federer and Djokovic could be on track to face one another. Federer was placed at the opposite end of Djokovic's quarter and will face Yoshihito Nishioka in the opening round. Djokoivc will open against Marton Fucsovics. Last weekend, Djokovic won the Cincinnati Masters, beating Federer, 6-4, 6-4.
Andy Murray, the 2012 U.S. Open winner, was drawn in world No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro's quarter. He'll face James Duckworth in the opening round, his first Grand Slam action since 2017 Wimbeldon. At the opposite end of del Potro's quarter, world No. 8 Grigor Dimitrov is set to take on Stan Wawrinka.
The women's side of the singles tournament will see the return of No. 26 Serena Williams, who sat out last year's tournament due to her pregnancy. (She gave birth during the tournament.) The six-time U.S. Open champion is seeded No. 17; she's the only player in either side of the draw seeded higher than her ranking. She will face Magda Linette of Poland in the opening round.
Williams was drawn in Halep's quarter of the bracket. The grouping also features Williams' sister, Venus, world No. 12 Gabrine Muguruza and No. 8 Karolina Pliskova. Serena could potentially face Venus in the third round, then Halep in the fourth.
Sloane Stephens, the tournament's reigning champion, enters as the No. 3 seed. She will face Evgeniya Rodina in her opening contest. Last year, Stephens beat Madison Keys in an all-American final to capture her first career Grand Slam victory. Stephens is coming off a round of 16 defeat against Elise Mertens at the Cincinnati Masters. Mertens was drawn in Stephens' quarter of the bracket, setting up a potential faceoff in the fourth round.
Check out the complete singles brackets below.
