US Open draw: Nadal-Federer quarters lurking
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 23, 2013
The US Open singles draws were revealed Thursday, placing Djokovic in defending champion Andy Murray's half and No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the same quarter as five-time US Open champion and No. 7 seed Roger Federer.
Nadal enters the tournament as one of favorites, or perhaps the favorite. After flaming out in the first round at Wimbledon and taking a brief sabbatical, Nadal has been fantastic on the hard courts. He's 15-0 this year and won back-to-back ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in Montreal and Cincinnati.
As it turns out, Nadal would have to meet longtime rival Federer in the quarterfinals -- if both players get that far.
The Swiss star is steadily trending in the wrong direction (semifinals at Australian Open, quarterfinals at French Open and second round at Wimbledon), but there's no one in the field with his pedigree at this tournament.
Federer needs one more U.S. Open crown to break a three-way tie with Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras for the most wins in the "Open era" of the tournament.
Murray, the 2013 Wimbledon champion, won his first career Grand Slam title here last year and comes to a Slam as defending champion for the first time. He has no easy path either, however, with a potentially tricky first-round match against world No. 49 Michael Llodra and a possible quarterfinal against No. 5 Tomas Berdych, whom he defeated in the 2012 US Open semis.
Elsewhere, Djokovic and del Potro could see each other in the quarterfinals if everything holds true to seed, while No. 4 seed David Ferrer has to feel good about looking at his section of the draw, where only Richard Gasquet is a top-10 man.
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