The top players for the fourth and final grand slam of Tennis in 2013 have descended at New York, as the US open is all set to kick off at Flushing Meadows tonight.
The fourth and final grand slam of tennis in 2013 is about to begin. The top players have descended at New York and the US Open is all set to kickoff at Flushing Meadows tonight. In the men’s singles, No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal, No. 4 seed David Ferrer and former US Open champion Roger Federer will all play their first round matches today. In the women’s singles, defending champion and world no. 1 Serena Williams, No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska and China’s Na Li will begin their campaign as well.
Polish Agnieszka Radwanska is scheduled to play first at the Arthur Ashe Stadium against Silvia Soler-Espinosa followed by Wimbledon semi finalists Kirsten Flipkens against two time US Open champion Venus Williams. Rafael Nadal will face USA’s Ryan Harrison in the third match at Arthur Ashe stadium. Radwanska and Nadal should have it easy against their opponents, but the match between Flipkens and Williams may go either way. Flipkens would start as favorite to win but Williams will try her best to beat her fellow American.
In the evening session at Arthur Ashe, Serena Williams will face Italian Francesca Schiavone followed by Roger Federer against Grega Zemlja. Federer should be able to breeze past little known Zemlja but if we go back to Wimbledon then anything can happen. As we all know, Federer was beaten by an unknown player Sergiy Stakhovsky. Though this time, Federer will be looking to redeem himself especially after being seeded seventh at Flushing Meadows. That’s the lowest he’s been seeded in over a decade at a Grand Slam event. Serena has a tricky encounter against Schiavone. In head to head, Serena leads 5-2 and has already beaten her earlier this year at Toronto but Schiavone is a tough competitor and the Italian will make it difficult for the defending champion. Having said that, Serena is a quality player and a home favorite, she should be able to get through to the next round.
At the Louis Armstrong stadium, China’s Na Li will face Olga Govortsova of Belarus. Na Li should be able to beat her comfortably. Na Li has faced Olga trice in her career and has never lost. American Sloane Stephens will face Mandy Minella in the first round while No. 8 seed Richard Gasquet of France will meet Michael Russell of the USA. In the last match at Louis Armstrong stadium, No. 4 seed David Ferrer of Spain will face Nick Kyrgios of Australia. This is the first time Ferrer will face Kyrgios, but Ferrer should be able to easily get through to the second round.
In other matches, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco faces Ivan Dodig of Croatia. In head to head, Verdasco leads 1-0. This should be a good match and Verdasco may find it tough to beat the Croatian. No. 9 seed Jelena Jankovic will face American Madison Keys in the first round. Both will be meeting for the first time, but Jelena should go through to the next round. Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki has been seeded 16 for the US Open. She will also begin her campaign tonight against Russian Vera Dushevina. Lisicki last faced Dushevina in 2008 where she beat her fairly easily. It would be interesting to see how Lisicki plays tomorrow as there would more media attention on her especially after her surprising performance at Wimbledon.
We will get to see good action on day 1 at Flushing Meadows; the matches to watch out for are Verdasco vs Dodig in the men’s singles and Serena Williams vs Francesca Schiavone in the women’s singles. Both Verdasco and Serena are favorites to go through to the next round, but Dodig and Schiavone may just make it difficult for them. Only singles events are scheduled to be held on Day 1. Somdev Devvarman has qualified for the main draw in Men’s singles but is not scheduled to play on the first day. He is the lone representative from India in singles competition.
