Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek may face old rivals in US Open draw
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NEW YORK – Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz could face a quarter-final rematch against Jannik Sinner at the US Open, with former champion Daniil Medvedev also in the top half of the men’s draw released on Thursday.
The final Grand Slam of the season, which starts on Monday, will see three-time champion Novak Djokovic returning to Flushing Meadows after missing out in 2022 because of his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
The Serb, seeded second behind Alcaraz, faces France’s Alexandre Muller in the first round.
Alcaraz will open his title defence against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer.
Last season, the Spaniard defeated Italy’s Sinner in a marathon five-set quarter-final which set a record for the latest-ever finish (2.50am) at the tournament.
Sinner, seeded sixth, faces a potentially tricky path to the last eight with Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov joined by former US Open champions Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka in the same section of the draw.
Alcaraz is seeded to meet 26th seed Dan Evans in the third round and Cameron Norrie in the fourth as he chases a third Grand Slam title and a second straight after his triumph at Wimbledon.
Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime is Djokovic’s projected fourth-round opponent while Greek seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, beaten by Djokovic in the Australian Open final, could get a rematch against the Serb in the quarters if he can make it past the third round for the first time.
Medvedev, who lifted the trophy in 2021 to deny Djokovic a calendar Grand Slam, is seeded third and drawn in the same quarter with eighth-seeded Andrey Rublev.
Fourth seed Holger Rune and returning finalist Casper Ruud share a section in the bottom half that also features three seeded Americans in 2022 semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Sebastian Korda.
In the women’s draw, world No. 1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek could find herself in a quarter-final rematch against sixth-seeded American Coco Gauff.
Swiatek holds a 7-1 head-to-head record against Gauff – who broke through for her first win over the Polish star on the way to the title in Cincinnati last week.
Second-seeded Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and third seed Jessica Pegula are in the bottom half, while fourth seed Elena Rybakina joins Swiatek and Gauff in the top half.
Sabalenka, who can overtake Swiatek for the No. 1 ranking, could meet fifth-seeded Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the 2022 runner-up, in the quarter-finals.
Swiatek will open her title defence against Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson, while Gauff, who has picked up titles in Washington and Cincinnati, will face a qualifier in the first round and could take on rising 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the second.
Fourth-seeded Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, faces a tough first-round match against one of the highest-ranked unseeded players in the draw, Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk. AFP