The qualifying draw for the year’s final Grand Slam has been made, with some tantalising encounters set to take place. A number of promising young talents including Denis Shapovalov, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Marco Berrettini, and Michael Mmoh feature.
The top seed is Leonardo Mayer. Despite winning the Hamburg 500 event this year, it came too late for direct entry into the US Open. Mayer starts with Maxime Janvier and could face young German Maximilian Marterer to qualify.
Young Canadian Denis Shapovalov is the second seed and he takes on former Top 100 player Denis Kudla. Shapovalov’s draw is favourable with Pedro Sousa the seed who is meant to be his toughest match.
3rd seed Alessandro Giannessi is in the next section against fellow Italian Lorenzo Giustino. Moldova’s Radu Albot is the other seeded player with Luca Vanni and Christian Garin for company.
Veteran Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky is the 4th seed and he starts with Alexey Vatutin. Stakhovsky could face young Canadian starlet Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round.
5th seed Marco Cecchinato starts against American wildcard JC Aragone. The unpredictable Sebastian Ofner is his opponent in the qualifying round if the seeding goes as expected.
Veteran 6th seed Mikhail Kukushkin faces Jozef Kovalik in the first round in a section littered with good players. His seed is the young American Stefan Kozlov. He starts with Guido Andreozzi though Tobias Kamke, Noah Rubin, and Bradley Klahn have the potential to cause upsets.
The mercurial Alexander Bublik is the 7th seed. Bublik made waves by defeating Lucas Pouille in the Australian Open before facing Andy Murray in the first round at Wimbledon. He plays young Briton Cameron Norrie, who recently won his first Challenger title.
8th seed Peter Gojowczyk completes the top section and starts with Nikola Milojevic. Reilly Opelka, Alexander Sarkissian and Christian Harrison all feature.
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe’s injury comeback has been well documented. The German is the 9th seed in qualifying in a section that includes Sam Groth and Matthew Ebden.
Facundo Bagnis is the 10th seed in a section with a number of clay specialists. He is joined by Roberto Quiroz, Adrian Menendez-Macieras, and Gerald Melzer.
Young Norwegian Casper Ruud will be looking to finally qualify for a Grand Slam this year. The Norwegian failed to qualify for the Australian Open (l. to Opelka) or the French Open (l. to Janvier) before electing not to play Wimbledon. Simone Bolelli and Kenny De Schepper are potentially tricky opponents.
12th seed Filip Krajinovic is finally looking back on his way to the Top 100 after a long absence. He starts against Lukas Rosol, with Mitchell Krueger and Egor Gerasimov hard players.
Argentina’s Renzo Olivo must try to qualify this year as the 13th seed. He has three Americans in his section including Michael Mmoh. Evan King and William Blumberg also feature.
Nicolas Mahut is the high profile 14th seed but starts with a potential upset with Soon Woo Kwon, a young South Korean with a promising record this year. Fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu is in the section, as he plays his final Grand Slam before retiring at the end of the season. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Marco Berrettini make for an impressive section.
Lukas Lacko is the 15th seed, playing Laurynas Grigelis. Nicolas Jarry is present, as is Austin Krajicek, the nephew of former Wimbledon winner Richard.
Quentin Halys is the 16th seed and faces America’s Timy Smyczek in round one. Peter Polansky and Blaz Rola complete his section.
