The US Open presented the picture of the 2020 women's edition, one of the most atypical in history. The tournament, the first post-pandemic Grand Slam, will kick off on August 31 in New York, and is very open given the numerous casualties of world-class players.
The number three in the world, the Czech Karolina Pliskova, will be the number one seed against the losses of Barty and Halep. Will do your debut against Anhelina Kalinina. On his side of the painting there will also be Naomi osaka, the player who stood in Cincinnati before the racial protests, with whom Pliskova would not face until the semifinals and who He will start as the fourth seed against his compatriot Misaki Doi.
On her way to the semi-finals, Pliskova could find herself against other seeds such as Petra Martic (8th), Marketa Vondrousova (12th), Alison Riske (13th), Angelique Kerber (17th), Yulia Putintseva (23rd), Jennifer Brady (27th) and Kristina Mladenovic (30th). For its part, Osaka could cross paths with Petra Kvitova (6th), Elena Rybakina (11th), Anett Kontaveit (14th), Dayana Yamstremka (19th), Magda Linette (24th), Anastasija Sevastova (31st) and Rebecca Peterson (32nd). In addition, this route will also be Cori Gauff, who will debut against Sevastova.
The other side of the picture will be led by the American Sofia Kenin, second seeded and fourth in the ATP ranking, who will begin his adventure playing against Yanina Wickmayer. He would not meet until the semifinals with Serena Williams, third seed, who arrives in New York with many doubts, and will start in front of Kristie Ahn.
For Kenin to reach the semifinals, she could face players like Aryna Sabalenka (5th), Johanna Konta (9th), Elise Mertens (16th), Karolina Muchova (20th), Ekaterina Alexandrova (21st), Ons Jabeur (27th) and Veronika Kudermetova (29th), in addition to other illustrious such as Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters or Victoria Azarenka. At the same time, on Serena's path they can appear Madison Keys (7th), Garbiñe Muguruza (10th), Maria Sakkari (15th), Donna Vekic (18th), Amanda Anisimova (22nd), Shuai Zang (25th) and Sloane Stephens (26th), joined by players like Kristyna Pliskova.
Four Spanish women in New York: Muguruza makes her debut against Hibino
The national representation in this women's edition of the US Open will have four Spanish tennis players in the first round. The best positioned, Garbiñe Muguruza, tenth seed, will play her first match against Japan's Nao Hibino. Garbiñe could cross in the quarterfinals with Serena Williams, who is not going through his best moment but will look forward to his 24th Grand Slam. In a hypothetical semifinals, the Australian final would be repeated between Muguruza and Kenin, in which the American won. Thus, Garbiñe needs to be at his best level to aspire to high places in this unpredictable US Open.
In the same frame is Aliona Bolsava, whose first rival will be the Swiss Jil Teichmann. If he won, Bolsona would play in the second round, hypothetically, against Kenin. The third Spanish on this side of the table is Sara Sorribes. The draw matched the Castellón against American Claire Liu, who entered the tournament through a wildcard. Already the other way of the tournament will go Paula Badosa, who will start against Russian Varvara Gracheva.
The tournament of casualties
The 2020 women's US Open will clearly be marked by absences from various stars on the circuit, including six top-10s. Ashleigh Barty and Simona Halep, number 1 and 2 in the WTA ranking, They will not go to New York for fear of the coronavirus. For the same reason they will not participate the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (5), the Dutch Kiki Bertens (7) and the Swiss Belinda Bencic (8). The current tournament champion will not be seen either, Canadian Bianca Andreescu (6), although in this case the player is absent to continue recovering from the injury she suffers in her right knee.