The US Open revealed both the men’s and women’s draws for this year’s tournament on Thursday afternoon.
Canadians Félix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, and Leylah Annie Fernandez are already in the main draw for the fourth major of the season, while Bianca Andreescu, Carson Branstine, and Liam Draxl continue to fight in qualifying for their spot in Flushing Meadows.
World No. 4 Auger-Aliassime will face 85th-ranked Rinky Hijikata in the first round, in the first career matchup between the two. The third-seeded Auger-Aliassime received a favourable draw for his eighth-career appearance at the tournament, with potential matches with No. 14 Learner Tien and Roland-Garros finalist Flavio Cobolli awaiting on his path to the semifinal.
The Canadian No. 1 enters the US Open looking to regain momentum after a difficult start to the North American hard-court swing. First, he was forced to withdraw from his home tournament in Montreal due to an injury sustained in training before he was ousted from the round of 16 in Cincinnati by Frances Tiafoe.
Auger-Aliassime can draw on a good performance in his most recent Grand Slam appearance, when he reached the quarter-final at Wimbledon but lost a heartbreaker to Novak Djokovic in a fifth-set tiebreaker. The 24-time Grand Slam winner called the match “one of the best matches I have been part of on this court in my career.”
The Montreal native reached the semifinal at the US Open last year - tying his best career performance at Flushing Meadows - where he lost to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in four sets.
Sinner withdrew from this year’s tournament due to injury, leaving the men’s draw wide open for the Canadian to take advantage.
Shapovalov will start the first round with a match against Miomir Kecmanovic. The Canadian is a perfect 5-0 against the Serbian, with all five victories coming on hard courts. Shapovalov lines up for potential matchups with eighth seed and back-to-back National Bank Open winner, Ben Shelton, Cincinnati Open winner Arthur Fils, and returning world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz.
The Richmond Hill, Ont., native kicked off the North American swing by reaching the final in Los Cabos but has since lost two of his past three matches, including retiring from his first-round match in Montreal in the third set due to injury.
Shapovalov reached the third round at the US Open last year, where also fell to Sinner in four sets. It’s been a tough season for the 27-year-old, as he began the year ranked No. 23 but dropped to a low of 68th before his performance in Los Cabos brought him back to No. 47.
Fernandez will open her campaign in New York with a match against No. 53 Shuai Zhang and lines up to face world No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the third round. Reigning Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova and top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka are also in Fernandez’s half of the bracket.
The 31st-seeded Fernandez has won consecutive matches on the hard courts just once this season - earlier this month at the National Bank Open in Toronto - when she beat Renata Zarazua, followed by a massive upset of Roland-Garros champion Mirra Andreeva before falling to Naomi Osaka in the round of 16. The victory over No. 5 Andreeva was Fernandez’s first top-10 win of the season.
Fernandez’s trip to the third round last year was her best performance at the US Open since reaching the final in 2021.
