2017 U.S. OPEN TENNIS LADIES DRAW HEADLINED BY HALEP VS. MARIA SHARAPOVA IN FIRST ROUND

Written by: Staff on 25th August 2017

2017 U.S. OPEN TENNIS LADIES DRAW HEADLINED BY HALEP VS. MARIA SHARAPOVA IN FIRST ROUND

epa05933196 Maria Sharapova of Russia returns against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia during their quarter-final match at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, 28 April 2017. EPA/RONALD WITTEK |

Women’s U.S. Open draw headlined by Halep vs. Sharapova in first round

By Ricky Dimon

There is no doubt about the No. 1 marquee first-round matchup in either the men’s or women’s U.S. Open draws. It is none other Simona Halep vs. Maria Sharapova. With Sharapova unseeded due to her suspension and subsequent injury layoff, she is unseeded and was therefore left at the mercy of the draw.

To say it did not work out well for her–or for Halep–would be an understatement.

The 30-year-old Russian, however, will not be afraid going up against the upcoming fortnight’s No. 2 seed. In fact, Sharapova boasts an incredible–and perfect–6-0 head-to-head record at Halep’s expense. They have faced each other three times on hard courts, with Sharapova most recently prevailing 6-4, 6-4 at the 2015 WTA Finals in Singapore.

“That’s the one player everybody wanted to see where she would land,” said commentator Mary Joe Fernandez. “No top seed wanted to draw Maria Sharapova (in the) first round. I don’t think Maria’s going to be intimidated, because I don’t think anyone intimidates her.”

“It’s an exciting match,” defending U.S. Open champion Angelique Kerber assured. “I mean, for the first round it’s a tough match for both of them.”

Kerber, meanwhile, has struggled this season following her breakout 2016 campaign. Thus the German finds herself with the No. 6 seed in New York City. She will kick things off against Naomi Osaka before a possible fourth-round date with French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko and a possible quarterfinal showdown against Elina Svitolina.

Elsewhere in the top half of the draw, No. 1 seed Karolina Pliskova is on a collision course for the quarterfinals with Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Among those missing from the women’s field are Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. Venus Williams, though, will try to pick up the slack for tennis’ first family–just as she did at Wimbledon (runner-up). Venus is on the bottom half of the bracket in a section that also features Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza and former U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki.