Serena and Venus Williams could be heading towards their earliest Grand Slam meeting in 20 years, facing a potential third-round match-up at the US Open.
If the sisters do play each other, the winner might face world No.1 Simona Halep in the fourth round.
That is certainly the most intriguing section of the women’s and men’s draws revealed in New York on Thursday ahead of the last major of the year.
US Open draw: Djokovic in Federer’s quarter
This marks Serena’s return to Flushing Meadows after missing the hard-court tournament in 2017 – she gave birth to her daughter last September.
The 36-year-old American has won six of her 23 Grand Slam titles at the US Open and was given the No.17 seed by the U.S. Tennis Association – nine places above her current ranking.
Always great practise with @Simona_Halep pic.twitter.com/XBrmUgZ17V
— Aga Radwanska (@ARadwanska) August 23, 2018
Venus, who won two of her seven Grand Slam singles trophies in New York, is ranked and seeded 16th. She faces a tricky first-round match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, whose two major championships include the 2004 US Open.
Kuznetsova was given a wildcard entry for the tournament, where main-draw play begins on Monday.
Serena’s opener comes against 60th-ranked Magda Linette of Poland.
Should the Williams siblings both make it to the third round, they would play each other at a Grand Slam tournament sooner than they have since Venus beat Serena in the second round at the 1998 Australian Open – their very first head-to-head match on tour.
They have gone on to play a total of 29 times – Serena leads 17-12 – and that includes nine all-in-the-family Grand Slam finals, most recently at the 2017 Australian Open.
Top seed Halep will begin her campaign to add to this year’s French Open title against Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi, the world No.44, while second seed Caroline Wozniacki faces 2011 champion Sam Stosur.
Defending champion Sloane Stephens, seeded third, faces Russia’s world No.81 Evgeniya Rodina, while fourth seed and 2016 winner Angelique Kerber plays Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan, ranked No.410.
Potential women’s quarterfinals:
Halep v Pliskova
Stephens v Svitolina
Kerber v Garcia
Wozniacki v Kvitova
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