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Three in a row could be difficult

Williams draws tough matches at the U.S. Open

NEW YORK – Serena Williams will face an up-and-coming American player in the first round of the U.S. Open.

The 32-year-old Williams has won 17 Grand Slam titles. At age 18, Taylor Townsend is in her third major tournament.

Townsend is a former top-ranked junior player who reached the third round at the French Open this year. She got into her first U.S. Open main draw with a wild card.

On the men’s side, Wimbledon champ Novak Djokovic and Australian Open champ Stan Wawrinka could meet in one semifinal. Second-seeded Roger Federer and fourth-seeded David Ferrer are in the other half.

Williams, seeking her third consecutive title at Flushing Meadows, hasn’t reached the quarterfinals at any of the first three Grand Slam events of 2014.

“The way my year’s been going, I’m worried about every single match,” she said after Thursday’s draw ceremony.

If she makes the quarterfinals, she could meet eighth-seeded Ana Ivanovic, who beat her at the Australian Open. Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova could await in the semifinals.

Kvitova, though, always has struggled at the year’s final major tournament, never even reaching the quarterfinals. After she won her first Wimbledon title in 2011, she lost in the first round at the U.S. Open.

Kvitova could face two-time Australian Open champ Victoria Azarenka in the round of 16. Azarenka lost to Williams in the finals at Flushing Meadows the last two years but is seeded just 16th after an injury-plagued season.

Seventh-seeded Eugenie Bouchard and Kvitova could play a rematch of their Wimbledon final in the quarters.

Second-seeded Simona Halep and fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska are in the other half of the draw. Halep could meet five-time major champ Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.

Sharapova, seeded fifth, has a tough first-round matchup against fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko, who has been ranked as high as 10th and is a three-time major quarterfinalist.

Halep could face seven-time major champ Venus Williams in the round of 16, though Williams hasn’t gotten that far at a major tournament since 2011.

Djokovic could face Andy Murray in the quarterfinals. Murray beat Djokovic for both his major titles but has struggled some this year after back surgery and is seeded eighth.

In the round of 16, Murray could get ninth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Grigor Dimitrov, Djokovic, Federer and Murray to win the title at the hard-court tournament in Toronto this month.

Wimbledon semifinalist Milos Raonic could meet Wawrinka in the quarterfinals.

The seventh-seeded Dimitrov, the other young player to break through with a semifinal run at Wimbledon, could face Federer in the quarters.

U.S. Open

Draw

Aug. 25-Sept. 8

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, New York

Men’s Singles

Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, vs. Diego Schwartzman, Argentina

Gilles Muller, Luxembourg, vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu, France

Maximo Gonzalez, Argentina, vs. Sam Querrey, United States

Yen-hsun Lu, Taiwan, vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (28), Spain

Philipp Kohlschreiber (22), Germany, vs. Qualifier

Michael Llodra, France, vs. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Spain

Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan, vs. Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany

Marcos Giron, United States, vs. John Isner (13), United States

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (9), France, vs. Juan Monaco, Argentina

Qualifier vs. Aleksandr Nedovyesov, Kazakhstan

Pablo Carreno Busta, Spain, vs. Qualifier

Benoit Paire, France, vs. Julien Benneteau (24), France

Fernando Verdasco (31), Spain, vs. Blaz Rola, Slovenia

Bradley Klahn, United States, vs. Andrey Kuznetsov, Russia

Qualifier vs. Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic

Robin Haase, Netherlands, vs. Andy Murray (8), Britain

Stan Wawrinka (3), Switzerland, vs. Jiri Vesely, Czech Republic

Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil, vs. Nicolas Mahut, France

Blaz Kavcic, Slovenia, vs. Donald Young, United States

Alejandro Falla, Colombia, vs. Jeremy Chardy (30), France

Mikhail Youzhny (21), Russia, vs. Nick Kyrgios, Australia

Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ukraine, vs. Andreas Seppi, Italy

Simone Bolelli, Italy, vs. Vasek Pospisil, Canada

Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France, vs. Tommy Robredo (16), Spain

Kei Nishikori (10), Japan, vs. Wayne Odesnik, United States

Pablo Andujar, Spain, vs. Jack Sock, United States

Matthew Ebden, Australia, vs. Tobias Kamke, Germany

Albert Montanes, Spain, vs. Leonardo Mayer (23), Argentina

Lukas Rosol (29), Czech Republic, vs. Qualifier

Victor Estrella Burgos, Dominican Republic, vs. Igor Sijsling, Netherlands

Qualifier vs. Benjamin Becker, Germany

Qualifier vs. Milos Raonic (5), Canada

Tomas Berdych (6), Czech Republic, vs. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia

Qualifier vs. Martin Klizan, Slovakia

Evgeny Donskoy, Russia, vs. Qualifier

Teymuraz Gabashvili, Russia, vs. Santiago Giraldo (27), Colombia

Feliciano Lopez (19), Spain, vs. Ivan Dodig, Croatia

Steve Johnson, United States, vs. Qualifier

Lukas Lacko, Slovakia, vs. Dominic Thiem, Austria

Kenny de Schepper, France, vs. Ernests Gulbis (11), Latvia

Marin Cilic (14), Croatia, vs. Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus

Qualifier vs. Qualifier

Jerzy Janowicz, Poland, vs. Dusan Lajovic, Serbia

Pablo Cuevas, Uruguay, vs. Kevin Anderson (18), South Africa

Gilles Simon (26), France, vs. Qualifier

Noah Rubin, United States, vs. Federico Delbonis, Argentina

Bernard Tomic, Australia, vs. Dustin Brown, Germany

Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia-Herzegovina, vs. David Ferrer (4), Spain

Grigor Dimitrov (7), Bulgaria, vs. Ryan Harrison, United States

Carlos Berlocq, Argentina, vs. Dudi Sela, Israel

Qualifier vs. David Goffin, Belgium

Frank Dancevic, Canada, vs. Joao Sousa (32), Portugal

Gael Monfils (20), France, vs. Jared Donaldson, United States

Alejandro Gonzalez, Colombia, vs. Dmitry Tursunov, Russia

Qualifier vs. Paolo Lorenzi, Italy

Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan, vs. Richard Gasquet (12), France

Fabio Fognini (15), Italy, vs. Andrey Golubev, Kazakhstan

Pere Riba, Spain, vs. Adrian Mannarino, France

Qualifier vs. Tim Smyczek, United States

Andreas Haider-Maurer, Austria, vs. Roberto Bautista Agut (17), Spain

Ivo Karlovic (25), Croatia, vs. Jarkko Nieminen, Finland

Jurgen Melzer, Austria, vs. Marcel Granollers, Spain

Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Spain, vs. Sam Groth, Australia

Marinko Matosevic, Australia, vs. Roger Federer (2), Switzerland

Women’s Singles

Serena Williams (1), United States, vs. Taylor Townsend, United States

Francesca Schiavone, Italy, vs. Vania King, United States

Varvara Lepchenko, United States, vs. Alison Van Uytvanck, Belgium

Mona Barthel, Germany, vs. Zhang Shuai (32), China

Sam Stosur (24), Australia, vs. Lauren Davis, United States

Pauline Parmentier, France, vs. Kaia Kanepi, Estonia

CoCo Vandeweghe, United States, vs. Donna Vekic, Croatia

Ajla Tomljanovic, Australia, vs. Carla Suarez Navarro (15), Spain

Flavia Pennetta (11), Italy, vs. Julia Goerges, Germany

Shelby Rogers, United States, vs. Qualifier

Nicole Gibbs, United States, vs. Caroline Garcia, France

Teliana Pereira, Brazil, vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (23), Russia

Casey Dellacqua (29), Australia, vs. Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Austria

Qualifier vs. Qualifier

Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic, vs. Yvonne Meusburger, Austria

Alison Riske, United States, vs. Ana Ivanovic (8), Serbia

Petra Kvitova (3), Czech Republic, vs. Kristina Mladenovic, France

Klara Koukalova, Czech Republic, vs. Petra Cetkovska, Czech Republic

Qualifier vs. Katarzyna Piter, Poland

Jarmila Gajdosova, Australia, vs. Madison Keys (27), United States

Svetlana Kuznetsova (20), Russia, vs. Marina Erakovic, New Zealand

Elena Vesnina, Russia, vs. Qualifier

Chanelle Scheepers, South Africa, vs. Christina McHale, United States

Misaki Doi, Japan, vs. Victoria Azarenka (16), Belarus

Dominika Cibulkova (12), Slovakia, vs. Catherine Bellis, United States

Zarina Diyas, Kazakhstan, vs. Qualifier

Elina Svitolina, Ukraine, vs. Polona Hercog, Slovenia

Grace Min, United States, vs. Ekaterina Makarova (17), Russia

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (30), Czech Republic, vs. Qualifier

Yaroslava Shvedova, Kazakhstan, vs. Monica Niculescu, Romania

Sorana Cirstea, Romania, vs. Heather Watson, Britain

Olga Govortsova, Belarus, vs. Eugenie Bouchard (7), Canada

Angelique Kerber (6), Germany, vs. Qualifier

Qualifier vs. Qualifier

Belinda Bencic, Switzerland, vs. Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium

Aleksandra Wozniak, Canada, vs. Kurumi Nara (31), Japan

Sloane Stephens (21), United States, vs. Annika Beck, Germany

Virginie Razzano, France, vs. Johanna Larsson, Sweden

Karin Knapp, Italy, vs. Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria

Bojana Jovanovski, Serbia, vs. Jelena Jankovic (9), Serbia

Lucie Safarova (14), Czech Republic, vs. Timea Babos, Hungary

Qualifier vs. Stefanie Voegele, Switzerland

Romina Oprandi, Switzerland, vs. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia

Amandine Hesse, France, vs. Alize Cornet (22), France

Roberta Vinci (28), Italy, vs. Paula Ormaechea, Argentina

Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania, vs. Silvia Soler-Espinosa, Spain

Peng Shuai, China, vs. Zheng Jie, China

Sharon Fichman, Canada, vs. Agnieszka Radwanska (4), Poland

Maria Sharapova (5), Russia, vs. Maria Kirilenko, Russia

Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic, vs. Alexandra Dulgheru, Romania

Julia Glushko, Israel, vs. Madison Brengle, United States

Qualifier vs. Sabine Lisicki (26), Germany

Andrea Petkovic (18), Germany, vs. Qualifier

Tereza Smitkova, Czech Republic, vs. Monica Puig, Puerto Rico

Anna Schmiedlova, Slovakia, vs. Qualifier

Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia, vs. Caroline Wozniacki (10), Denmark

Sara Errani (13), Italy, vs. Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium

Qualifier vs. Camila Giorgi, Italy

Kiki Bertens, Netherlands, vs. Timea Bacsinszky, Switzerland

Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, vs. Venus Williams (19), United States

Garbine Muguruza (25), Spain, vs. Qualifier

Johanna Konta, Britain, vs. Shahar Peer, Israel

Jana Cepelova, Slovakia, vs. Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor, Spain

Danielle Rose Collins, United States, vs. Simona Halep (2), Romania

Associated Press



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