US Open men's singles draw: Andy Murray avoids Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

Murray is instead in the same half as fourth seed and rising star Alex Zverev, the German who won the recent Montreal Masters title by beating Federer in the final.

The Scot, winner in New York in 2012, will open against world number 104 Tennys Sandgren, who he is yet to meet, with the first potential seed in his path being Diego Schwartzman, the Argentine who he could face in round three.

Lucas Pouille could follow and then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals.

The 20-year-old Zverev, who also won in Rome earlier this season, could lie in wait in the last four but he has never beaten a top-50 player in a best-of-five-set match. Zverev is in the same quarter as Wimbledon runner-up Marin Cilic.

Murray's potential route to the title

R1 Tennys Sandgren
R2 Florian Mayer/Rogerio Dutra Silva
R3 Diego Schwartzman
R4 Lucas Pouille
QF Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
SF Alex Zverev
F Rafael Nadal/Roger Federer

Murray, who was cut from 7/1 to 6/1 by Sky Bet following the draw, has not played since Wimbledon due to a hip injury but has been practising this week at Flushing Meadows and is due to give an update on his fitness when he faces the media on Saturday.

With Cilic also yet to play since losing to Federer in SW19, the bottom half potentially opens the door for a surprise finalist.

Home hope John Isner, champion in Atlanta and a a semi-finalist in Cincinnati already this summer, may fancy his chances after landing in the same section as Cilic (16/1) and Zverev, who was also cut into 6/1.

Title favourite Federer, whose odds drifted to 7/4 following the draw, and top seed Nadal (3/1) have been placed on course for a semi-final meeting. They have never met at the US Open.

Federer is in the same quarter as Dominic Thiem and could meet Australia's Nick Kyrgios in the last 16, while Nadal is in with Grigor Dimitrov, the champion in Cincinnati last weekend.

Federer meets American Frances Tiafoe in the first round with Nadal up against Serbian Dusan Lajovic. The two star names, plus Murray, will battle it out for the world number one ranking in New York.

Potential quarter-finals

Rafael Nadal v Grigor Dimitrov
Roger Federer v Dominic Thiem
Marin Cilic v Alex Zverev
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Andy Murray

Briton Aljaz Bedene is a potential second-round opponent for Dimitrov. Bedene will face talented young Russian Andrey Rublev in round one.

Meanwhile, Kyle Edmund, the other Briton to gain direct entry into the main draw, will open his campaign against 32nd seed Robin Haase.

British number five Cameron Norrie will also compete after coming through qualifying. He was handed a decent draw when the qualifiers were placed - being paired with Dmitry Tursunov, a player on the comeback from injury and one who is yet to win a tour-level match since returning at Wimbledon.

Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov is also among the qualifiers. He made the semis in Montreal recently to highlight his undoubted talent and will be an awkward foe for another rising star Daniil Medvedev. If victorious, Shapovalov could meet Tsonga in round two.

US Open men's singles draw in full

Rafael Nadal (Spa) (1) v Dusan Lajovic (Ser)
Taro Daniel (Jpn) v Tommy Paul (USA)
Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) v Geoffrey Blancaneaux (Fra)
Leonardo Mayer (Arg) v Richard Gasquet (Fra) (26)

Fabio Fognini (Ita) (22) v Stefano Travaglia (Ita)
Viktor Troicki (Ser) v Norbert Gombos (Svk)
Jan-Lennard Struff (Ger) v Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukr)
Ryan Harrison (USA) v Tomas Berdych (Cze) (15)

David Goffin (Bel) (9) v Julien Benneteau (Fra)
Steve Darcis (Bel) v Guido Pella (Arg)
Maximilian Marterer (Ger) v Donald Young (USA)
Jeremy Chardy (Fra) v Gael Monfils (Fra) (18)

Pablo Cuevas (Uru) (27) v Damir Dzumhur (Bih)
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (Ger) v Nicolas Kicker (Arg)
Aljaz Bedene (Gbr) v Andrey Rublev (Rus)
Vaclav Safranek (Cze) v Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) (7)

Roger Federer (Swi) (3) v Frances Tiafoe (USA)
Blaz Kavcic (Slo) v Mikhail Youzhny (Rus)
Fernando Verdasco (Spa) v Vasek Pospisil (Can)
Andrey Kuznetsov (Rus) v Feliciano Lopez (Spa) (31)

Sam Querrey (USA) (17) v Tim Smyczek (USA)
Vincent Millot (Fra) v Santiago Giraldo (Col)
Malek Jaziri (Tun) v Thiago Moura Monteiro (Bra)
John Millman (Aus) v Nick Kyrgios (Aus) (14)

Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa) (11) v Andreas Seppi (Ita)
Dustin Brown (Ger) v Thomaz Bellucci (Bra)
Patrick Kypson (USA) v Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (Spa)
Henri Laaksonen (Swi) v Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) (24)

Adrian Mannarino (Fra) (30) v Ricardas Berankis (Lit)
Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) v Ivo Karlovic (Cro)
Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) v Taylor Harry Fritz (USA)
Alex De Minaur (Aus) v Dominic Thiem (Aut) (6)

Marin Cilic (Cro) (5) v Gilles Simon (Fra)
Christopher Eubanks (USA) v Dudi Sela (Isr)
Radu Albot (Mda) v Ernesto Escobedo (USA)
Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) v Karen Khachanov (Rus) (25)

Mischa Zverev (Ger) (23) v Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (USA)
Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) v Benoit Paire (Fra)
Horacio Zeballos (Arg) v Hyeon Chung (Kor)
Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) v John Isner (USA) (10)

Jack Sock (USA) (13) v Jordan Thompson (Aus)
John-Patrick Smith (Aus) v Thomas Fabbiano (Ita)
Joao Sousa (Por) v Paolo Lorenzi (Ita)
Bernard Tomic (Aus) v Gilles Muller (Lux) (19)

Kevin Anderson (Rsa) (28) v JC Aragone (USA)
Alessandro Giannessi (Ita) v Ernests Gulbis (Lat)
Jiri Vesely (Cze) v Borna Coric (Cro)
Darian King (Bar) v Alexander Zverev (Ger) (4)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) (8) v Marius Copil (Rom)
Denis Shapovalov (Can) v Daniil Medvedev (Rus)
Nicolas Almagro (Spa) v Steve Johnson (USA)
Kyle Edmund (Gbr) v Robin Haase (Ned) (32)

Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spa) (20) v Denis Istomin (Uzb)
Marton Fucsovics (Hun) v Nicolas Mahut (Fra)
Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) v Cameron Norrie (Gbr)
Evan King (USA) v Pablo Carreno-Busta (Spa) (12)

Lucas Pouille (Fra) (16) v Ruben Bemelmans (Bel)
Jared Donaldson (USA) v Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo)
Andreas Haider-Maurer (Aut) v Evgeny Donskoy (Rus)
Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) v David Ferrer (Spa) (21)

Diego Sebastian Schwartzman (Arg) (29) v Carlos Berlocq (Arg)
Thanasi Kokkinakis (Aus) v Janko Tipsarevic (Ser)
Rogerio Dutra Silva (Bra) v Florian Mayer (Ger)
Tennys Sandgren (USA) v Andy Murray (Gbr) (2)

Related links

Latest US Open men's title odds
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