Saturday 27 August 2016 08:18, UK
Andy Murray will face Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic in the first round of the forthcoming US Open in New York.
Rosol is currently ranked a lowly 82 in the world, and is best remembered for beating Rafa Nadal - the defending men's singles champion at the time - over five sets at Wimbledon four years ago.
The 31-year-old from Prague reached a career-high ranking of 26 in September 2014 and is a dangerous opponent for Murray who will hope to end his glorious summer with a fourth Grand Slam title.
The 29-year-old Scot followed up his second Wimbledon crown in July by retaining his Olympic title two weeks ago.
Murray, the 2012 US Open winner, has faced Rosol twice before. Although the Dunblane player won both contests, he did lose the opening set in each of these best-of-three meetings.
In Friday's draw, world No 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic was given a first round encounter with Pole Jerzy Janowicz.
The 25-year-old from Lodz, who is no longer ranked inside the world's top 200, has struggled for form in recent seasons but was a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2013 when he lost in four sets to eventual champion Murray.
Janowicz has also had to overcome a niggling knee injury while Djokovic admits he is not fully fit himself: "My wrist is not 100 per-cent but I am getting there.
"There's still a couple of days. Hopefully on Monday, when it all starts, I will be there."
The Serb, whose attempts to win a third straight Wimbledon title were ended by Sam Querrey two months ago, is in the same half of the draw as another two-time winner at Flushing Meadows, Nadal.
The Spaniard, who reached the semi-finals of the Olympic tennis tournament in Rio where he also collected a gold medal in the men's doubles event, will meet Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
Meanwhile, in the women's draw, top seed Serena Williams opens her campaign against world No 36 Ekaterina Makarova.
Williams arrives in the Big Apple chasing a seventh US Open title, the most recent of which came in 2014 when she beat Makarova of Russia at the semi-final stage.
Makarova could prove to be a tough opponent for the American who was beaten by the 28-year-old at the Australian Open four years ago.
Makarova will be in confident mood having collected a gold medal in the women's doubles event at the Rio Olympics.
As for Williams, a victory in New York would give her a 23rd Grand Slam singles success, which would move her ahead of Steffi Graf in the all-time list. Australian Margaret Court, with 24 slam singles titles, tops the standings.
The reigning women's singles champion Flavia Pennetta has retired from tennis and will not be defending her title.
In last year's final, Pennetta beat her fellow Italian Roberta Vinci who ended Serena's run in the last four.
Williams had been chasing a first calendar Grand Slam since 1988, but was derailed by Vinci in what was one of the greatest shocks in tennis history.
The draw has placed Williams and No 4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the same half, while Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and French Open winner Garbine Muguruza are in the other section.
And British No 1 Johanna Konta was handed a difficult opening match against American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Konta, a semi-finalist at Melbourne back in January, is the No 13 seed while Mattek-Sands collected a mixed doubles gold medal from Rio earlier this month.
As for other Brits in the men's and women's singles: Aljaz Bedene and Kyle Edmund have tough opponents in the shape of Australian firebrand Nick Kyrgios and experienced Frenchman Richard Gasquet respectively.
Dan Evans takes on American wildcard Rajeev Ram while Heather Watson and Naomi Broady both face qualifiers in round one of the women's singles.
Played on hard courts, the 14-day tournament begins on Monday.
Those missing this year include Roger Federer (injured), Maria Sharapova (suspended), Victoria Azarenka (pregnant) and Tomas Berdych (appendicitis).
TOP 10 SEEDS:
Men's singles
1 Novak Djokovic (Ser)
2 Andy Murray (Gbr)
3 Stan Wawrinka (Swi)
4 Rafael Nadal (Esp)
5 Milos Raonic (Can)
6 Kei Nishikori (Jpn)
7 Marin Cilic (Cro)
8 Dominic Thiem (Aut)
9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra)
10 Gael Monfils (Fra)
Women's singles
1 Serena Williams (US)
2 Angelique Kerber (Ger)
3 Garbine Muguruza (Esp)
4 Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol)
5 Simona Halep (Rom)
6 Venus Williams (US)
7 Roberta Vinci (Ita)
8 Madison Keys (US)
9 Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus)
10 Karolina Pliskova (Cze)
