Federer to begin US Open charge against Young
Originally published on: 24/08/12 00:00
A champion in New York from 2004-2008, 31-year-old Federer is set to face Young for the first time but the encounter should present a colossal challenge for the left-handed American, who has won just one of his last 18 tour matches. Young stopped a run of 17 consecutive defeats with victory over Leonardo Mayer in Winston Salem this week – just his third match win of the year. If recent results have got him down, Young may find motivation in memories of his career-best Grand Slam run at Flushing Meadows 12 months ago, when he defeated Federer’s compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka en route to the fourth round.
Meanwhile, Murray begins his latest Grand Slam tilt with a fourth career clash against Alex Bogomolov. The Olympic champion faced the Moscow-born 29-year-old on three occasions in 2011, losing their first encounter in Miami before easing through their clashes in Cincinnati and Tokyo. The Scot comes into the US Open on the back of two early exits since winning gold in London, having withdrawn ahead of his last sixteen encounter with Milos Roanic in Toronto with a knee injury before losing to Jeremy Chardy in Cincinnati.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic comes in to New York on the back of more positive results, having won in Toronto before finishing a runner-up to Federer in Cincinnati. The Serb faces Paolo Lorenzi first, hoping for a repeat of his crushing 6-2 6-0 6-0 win over the Italian in the opening round of January’s Australian Open.
Elsewhere, David Ferrer is up against Kevin Anderson, Juan Martin del Potro faces David Nalbandian, Lleyton Hewitt tackles Tobias Kamke, John Isner takes on Xavier Malisse and Andy Roddick will play a qualifier.
In the women’s draw, three-time champion Kim Clijsters kicks off the last tournament of her career against American wild card Victoria Duval, while defending champion Samantha Stosur faces a testing opener against Petra Martic. The Australian holds a 100% record against the Split native but only narrowly beat the Croat in a third set tiebreak on the clay of Madrid in their only career meeting this May.
Top seed Victoria Azarenka faces Alexandra Panova, second seed Agnieszka Radwanska plays Nina Bratchikova, Maria Sharapova faces Hungary’s Melinda Czink, while three-time champion Serena Williams plays compatriot Coco Vandeweghe and sixth seed Angelique Kerber, who was ranked outside the top 100 a year ago, faces British No.2 Anne Keothavong.
Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here
