New York, NY, USA, 22 August 2014 | tennis.com.au
Some of Australia’s best hopes US Open hopes have been dealt extremely tough first round draws, with Marinko Matosevic lining up against second seed Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt taking on world No.7 Tomas Berdych.
There were also difficult draws for Nick Kyrgios – who faces 21st seed Mikhail Youzhny first up, while Australia’s top female player Sam Stosur faces a projected fourth round clash with Serena Williams.
> view the US Open men’s singles draw
Stosur, the 24th seed, opens against American Lauren Davis and should she progress further in the draw, will likely meet No.15 seed Carla Suarez Navarro in the last 32.
That’s if the Spaniard can get past another Aussie in Ajla Tomljanovic, the big-hitting former Croatian representing Australia for the first time and presenting a tough prospect for Suarez Navarros after upsetting Agnieszka Radwanska en route to the fourth round at Roland Garros.
Stosur and Tomljanovic are joined in the top half of the draw by Australia’s two other representatives, Casey Dellacqua and Jarmila Gajdosova.
Dellacqua, the No.29 seed, opens against Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria, and should she win that match would take on a qualifier in round two.
Eighth seed Ana Ivanovic looms in the third round.
Gajdosova, a wildcard into the main draw, has been dealt a tricky opening-round encounter against rapidly-improving American teen Madison Keys, the tournament’s 27th seed.
> view the US Open women’s singles draw
Matosevic was extremely unlucky to draw the Swiss great, with Federer the form player coming into the US Open after victory at the ATP Cincinnati Masters and a trip to the final at the previous week’s ATP Masters event in Toronto.
Should Federer win his match against the world No.77, he could find himself up against another Aussie in Sam Groth; the big-serving Victorian takes on Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in his first round match.
The silver lining for Hewitt is that he comes up against the sixth-seeded Berdych at a low ebb; the Czech has failed to progress beyond the third round at any of his North American hardcourt tune-ups, suffering three losses to players ranked outside the top 20.
Other Aussie men in the draw include wildcard Bernard Tomic – who takes on Germany’s Dustin Brown – and Matt Ebden, who faces another German in the form of Tobias Kamke.
Should Tomic win his opening round match, fourth seed David Ferrer likely awaits in round two.
