New York: Novak Djokovic could face a Wimbledon final rematch with Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in a US Open quarter final and meet Olympic champion Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals in his bid to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam at New York.
Under a men’s singles draw released Thursday by the US Tennis Association, the 34-year-old Serbian top seed was placed in a draw quarter that could see him meet Australian fourth seed Alex de Minaur in the fourth round.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner then could see sixth-seeded Berrettini in the quarter-finals and, if seed form holds, face German fourth seed Zverev in the semi-finals.
Zverev was last year’s US Open runner-up to Austrian Dominic Thiem, who is injured and will not defend his crown when the hardcourt showdown begins Monday.
Topping the other half of the draw opposite Djokovic is Russian second seed Daniil Medvedev with Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev next. Rublev and Tsitsipas could meet in a quarter-final.
Defending champion Naomi Osaka could meet second seed Aryna Sabalenka in a women’s semi-final while top-ranked Ashleigh Barty might have a Wimbledon final rematch with Karolina Pliskova under the draw.
Osaka, the reigning US and Australian Open champion, was seeded third and could play Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the fourth round before a possible quarter-final against Ukraine sixth seed Elina Svitolina.
The Japanese star, who pulled out of the French Open and skipped Wimbledon citing mental health issues, might then meet Belarus’ Sabalenka, a semi-finalist last month at Wimbledon, or Czech eighth seed Barbora Krejcikova, this year’s French Open winner.
The opposite half of the draw features top seed Barty, coming off a second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in July, facing a possible quarter-final against Polish seventh seed Iga Swiatek.
If Barty reached the final four, she could see Czech fourth seed Pliskova in a rematch of the Wimbledon final or Canadian sixth seed Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion who skipped last year’s New York hardcourt showdown.
