NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 29: Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot to Frances Tiafoe on Day Two of the 2017 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 29, 2017 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Image: Getty)
The Draw for this year’s Australian Open has been released, and Rafael Nadal is the top seed.
The 31-year-old Spaniard and World No. 1 should not face much of a challenge to start the tournament: he will face fifth-seeded Dominican Victor Estrella Burgos in his first match.
In the second round, Nadal would face Leonardo Mayer or Nicolas Jarry, then Damir Dzumhur in round three.
Meanwhile, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov is set to face Jack Sock or Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals. Roger Federer leads the way in the bottom half. The second-seeded Swiss and defending champion — who has won five times in Melbourne — will open the tournament against Aljaz Bedene, then would face Jan-Lennard Struff or the wild card Kwon Soon-woo, a 20-year-old South Korean.
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In the third round, Federer could meet Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who beat the 36-year-old Swiss just two times on 18 matches played. In the fourth round, the 19-time Grand Slam winner would meet American Sam Querrey or Canadian Milos Raonic, then Belgian David Goffin or Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in the quarters.
Also featured in the bottom half of the draw are 20-year-old German fourth seed Alexander Zverev and Austrian youngster Dominic Thiem as the top seed.
In the quarters Novak Djokovic would meet Zverev, and 2016 US Open winner Stan Wawrinka would face off against Thiem. The Open begins on Monday.
Here is the full draw:
TOP HALF
(1) R. Nadal [ESP] vs V. Estrella Burgos [DOM]
N. Jarry [CHI] vs L. Mayer [ARG]
J. Millman [AUS] vs B. Coric [CRO]
P. Lorenzi [ITA] vs (28) D. Dzumhur [BIH]
(24) D. Schwartzman [ARG] vs D. Lajovic [SRB]
Q vs Q
A. Dolgopolov [UKR] vs A. Haider-Maurer [AUT]
M. Ebden [AUS] vs (16) J. Isner [USA]
(10) P. Carreno Busta [ESP] vs J. Kubler [AUS]
G. Simon [FRA] vs M. Copil [ROU]
Q vs M. Jaziri [TUN]
F. Delbonis [ARG] vs (23) G. Muller [LUX]
(31) P. Cuevas [URU] vs M. Youzhny [RUS]
D. Sela [ISR] vs R. Harrison [USA]
Q vs Joao Sousa [POR]
Y. Lu [TPE] vs (6) M. Cilic [CRO]
(3) G. Dimitrov [BUL] vs Q
Q vs Q
Q vs M. Baghdatis [CYP]
D. Ferrer [ESP] vs (30) A. Rublev [RUS]
(17) N. Kyrgios [AUS] vs R. Dutra Silva [BRA]
V. Troicki [SRB] vs A. Bolt [AUS]
S. Tsitsipas [GRE] vs D. Shapovalov [CAN]
Q vs (15) J. W. Tsonga [AUS]
(11) K. Anderson [RSA] vs K. Edmund [GBR]
P. Herbert [FRA] vs D. Istomin [UZB]
G. Melzer [AUT] vs N. Basilashvili [GEO]
Q vs (18) L. Pouille [FRA]
(27) P. Kohlschreiber [GER] vs Y. Nishioka [JPN]
A. Seppi [ITA] vs C. Moutet [FRA]
I. Karlovic [CRO] vs L. Djere [SRB]
Y. Sugita [JPN] vs (8) J. Sock [USA]
BOTTOM HALF
(5) D. Thiem [AUT] vs G. Pella [ARG]
S. Johnson [USA] vs Q
Q vs J. Vesely [CZE]
F. Krajinovic [SRB] vs (26) A. Mannarino [FRA]
(20) R. Bautista Agut [ESP] vs F. Verdasco [ESP]
C. Stebe [GER] vs M. Marterer [GER]
J. Chardy [FRA] vs T. Sandgren [USA]
R. Berankis [LTU] vs (9) S. Wawrinka [SUI]
(14) N. Djokovic [SRB] vs D. Young [USA]
G. Monfils [FRA] vs Q
T. Smyczek [USA] vs A. Popyrin [AUS]
J. Donaldson [USA] vs (21) A. Ramos-Vinolas [ESP]
(32) M. Zverev [GER] vs H. Chung [KOR]
T. Kokkinakis [AUS] vs D. Medvedev [RUS]
M. Kukushkin [KAZ] vs P. Gojowczyk [GER]
T. Fabbiano [ITA] vs (4) A. Zverev [GER]
(7) D. Goffin [BEL] vs Q
J. Benneteau [FRA] vs T. Daniel [JPN]
E. Donskoy [RUS] vs F. Mayer [GER]
H. Zeballos [ARG] vs (25) F. Fognini [ITA]
(19) T. Berdych [CZE] vs A. de Minaur [AUS]
G. Garcia-Lopez [ESP] vs B. Paire [FRA]
Karen Khachanov [RUS] vs Q
F. Tiafoe [USA] vs (12) J. del Potro [ARG]
(13) S. Querrey [USA] vs F. Lopez [ESP]
R. Albot [MDA] vs M. Fucsovics [HUN]
N. Kicker [ARG] vs J. Thompson [AUS]
L. Lacko [SVK] vs (22) M. Raonic [CAN]
(29) R. Gasquet [FRA] vs B. Kavcic [SLO]
Q vs Robin Haase [NED]
S. Kwon [KOR] vs J. Struff [GER]
A. Bedene [SLO] vs (2) R. Federer [SUI]
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 29: Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot to Frances Tiafoe on Day Two of the 2017 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 29, 2017 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
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