Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper face qualifiers in US Open first round
By Eleanor Crooks, PA Sport Correspondent, New York
Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will both face qualifiers in the opening round of the US Open.
The pair are the leading British hopes for success in New York, with Draper bidding to follow up last year’s breakthrough run to the semi-finals.
Seeded fifth, the draw initially appears to have been kind to the 23-year-old, although he could face defending champion Jannik Sinner a round earlier than last year in the last eight.
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Draper will hope to find form quickly on his favoured hard courts after being forced to sit out the recent Masters 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati because of an arm injury.
He has not played a competitive singles match since a disappointing loss to Marin Cilic in the second round of Wimbledon but did play three contests in the revamped mixed doubles tournament here alongside American Jessica Pegula, with the pair beating Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz in their opening match.
Raducanu has continued her strong season over the last couple of months, elevating her ranking to 35 in the world but just missing out on a seeding by one spot.
She is still looking for her first victory at Flushing Meadows since claiming the title in 2021 as a qualifier and, while she is likely to be strongly favoured in the opening round, things will get tougher from there.
In the second round, the 22-year-old could face 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova, while ninth seed Elena Rybakina is a potential third-round opponent.
Raducanu will fancy her chances against anyone in the field, though, having taken world number one Aryna Sabalenka all the way to a deciding tie-break in Cincinnati last week in her first tournament under new coach Francisco Roig.
The other British women have been handed tough draws, with Katie Boulter, who has struggled since Wimbledon, taking on 27th seed Marta Kostyuk and Sonay Kartal meeting 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.
In the men’s draw, Wimbledon quarter-finalist Cameron Norrie faces American Sebastian Korda while Jacob Fearnley will make his US Open debut against Roberto Bautista Agut, with the winner likely to meet third seed Alexander Zverev.
Top seed Sinner, who was on court practising on Thursday three days after retiring in tears with illness in Monday’s final in Cincinnati against Alcaraz, is in the opposite half of the draw to both Novak Djokovic and the Spaniard, who faces a tricky opener against giant American Reilly Opelka.
Defending women’s champion Sabalenka plays Spain’s Rebeka Masarova in round one while second seed Iga Swiatek and third seed Coco Gauff are both in the bottom half.
Forty-five-year-old Venus Williams, who returns to the tournament as a wild card 28 years after making her debut, faces a tough opener against 11th seed Karolina Muchova.
Play in the main draws begins on Sunday.