Murray could face Dan Evans in third round should they progress that far; Kyle Edmund faces potential second-round date with world No 1 Novak Djokovic
Friday 28 August 2020 15:57, UK
Andy Murray will take on Japanese rising star Yoshihito Nishioka in the opening round of the US Open, which begins on Monday.
The 2012 champion at Flushing Meadows will head into the tournament with renewed confidence following an impressive run to the last-16 of the Western & Southern Open this week.
Murray, who is ranked 134 in the world, was awarded a wild card for the event and he will take on world No 48 Nishioka with the winner to face Canadian hot-shot Felix Auger-Aliassime if he progresses.
Nishioka, 24, has one ATP title to his name - in Shenzhen - and has reached the round of 64 at the US Open twice in his career.F
Murray will be playing in New York for the first time in two years when he lost to Fernando Verdasco in four sets and he will also taking to the court in Grand Slam singles action since the 2019 Australian Open.
Other Brits in action include Kyle Edmund who takes on Alexander Bublik with the winner likely to play top seed Novak Djokovic. The 17-time Grand Slam champion opens against world No 107 Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia.
Djokovic and Dominic Thiem are on a collision course to meet again in the final after they were placed at opposite ends of the draw.
The Serbian clinched the year's first Grand Slam when he beat Austrian Thiem in five sets at the Australian Open and the No 1 remains unbeaten with a 21-0 record for the season. Thiem opens against Spaniard Jaume Munar.
British No 1 Dan Evans goes up against Brazil's Thiago Seyboth, while Cam Norrie, who is in the same half of the draw as Edmund, faces a tough task against Diego Schwartzman - twice a recent US Open quarter-finalist.
Also, last year's runner-up Daniil Medvedev is seeded third and plays Argentina's Federico Delbonis in round one. Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is up against Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas but another young gun, fifth seed Alexander Zverev, has been handed a tough first hurdle with a match-up against big-serving Kevin Anderson who reached the final in 2017 and the Wimbledon final in 2018.
Roger Federer and defending champion Rafael Nadal are skipping the tournament due to injury and COVID-19 concerns respectively.
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