TENNIS US OPEN – World Number 1 Novak Djokovic will face a very tough path in his attempt to reach his fifth consecutive final at Flushing Meadows as he has been drawn in the same quarter as 2012 US Open champion Andy Murray and 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka. Five-time US Open champion Roger Federer could face Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter finals and David Ferrer in the semifinal. Diego Sampaolo
First quarter: Djokovic vs Murray
Novak Djokovic, who won the US Open for the first time in 2011 against Rafa Nadal, will open against Diego Schwartzmann from Argentina in the first round before facing either Gilles Muller or Paul Henry Mathieu in the second round, Guillermo Garcia Lopez in the third round and John Isner in the fourth round. Isner could play against Phillip Kohlschreiber in the third round for the third consecutive year at Flushing Meadows (with the German leading 3-0 in the previous matches in this tournament).
The winner of the possible blockbuster fourth round match between Andy Murray and Jo Wilfred Tsonga could clash against Djokovic in the quarter final. Tsonga beat Djokovic in this month’s Toronto Rogers Cup before beating Roger Federer in the final. Tsonga will open against Juan Monaco in the first round. Murray will face a very tough draw. After his opening match against Robin Haase, the Scotsman could face Radek Stepanek in the second round, Fernando Verdasco in the third round, Tsonga in the fourth round and Djokovic in the quarter final. Djokovic leads 12-8 in the previous head-to-head matches against Murray. They met in four Grand Slam finals at the 2011 Australian Open, at the 2012 US Open, at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon in 2013.
Second quarter: Wawrinka vs Raonic
Djokovic could face a potential semifinal against Stan Wawrinka in a possible re-match of this year’s Australian Open quarter finals. Wawrinka, who reached the semifinal last year at the US Open, will play against Czech rising star World Number 76 Jiri Vesely in a very interesting first round and either Thomas Bellucci or Nicholas Mahut in the second round and Jeremy Chardy in the third round. In the fourth round Stan could play against either Australian rising star Nick Kyrgios, a surprising Wimbledon quarter finalist this year, or Mickhail Youzhny. Wawrinka might meet the winner of a possible fourth round match between Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori.
Third quarter: Ferrer vs Berdych
The third quarter of the draw features two interesting first round matches like Marin Cilic vs Marcos Baghdatis and Kevin Anderson vs Pablo Cuevas. One of these players could be the third round rival of David Ferrer.
Ferrer might play against Tomas Berdych in the quarter finals. The Czech player will open against Lleyton Hewitt before possible clashes against Martin Klizan in the second round and Santiago Giraldo in the third round.
After reaching the Master 1000 final in Cincinnati Ferrer has moved up to Number 5th in the ATP Ranking and is the fourth seed following the withdrawal of defending champion Rafa Nadal who has been forced to pull out because of a wrist injury.
A possible second round match in this half of the draw could be played between Ernests Gulbis and Austrian rising star Dominic Thiem who train together under the guidance of coach Gunther Bresnik. If Gulbis overcomes this second round hurdle, he could meet Feliciano Lopez in what could be a spectacular third round clash. The winner of this third round match could play against Berdych in the fourth round.
Fourth quarter: Federer vs Dimitrov
Seventeen-time Grand Slam champion and six-time US Open finalist Roger Federer will open his US Open campaign against Marinko Matosevic. He might meet Sam Groth in the second round, Croatian big server Ivo Karlovic in the third round and Italian Fabio Fognini in the fourth round. Federer’s possible rivals in the quarter finals could be either this year’s Wimbledon and Rome semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov, who won in Acapulco, Bucharest and the Queen’s this year, or Richard Gasquet.
Gasquet could take on Gael Monfils in a possible all-French third round match.
Federer is in very good form as he reached the final in Toronto (losing to Tsonga) and won the Cincinnati title against David Ferrer last Sunday.
Federer and Ferrer could renew their rivalry in a possible semifinal at Flushing Meadows. Federer has never lost against the Spaniard in their previous 16 head-to-head matches. Ferrer will start against Damir Dzumhur in the first round and either Bernard Tomic or Dustin Brown, a German player of Jamaican origin who plays a very spectacular tennis and beat Rafa Nadal last June at Halle.