Carlos Alcaraz opens US Open title defense against Safiullin, Venus Williams plays Sofia Kenin

NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz will open the defense of his U.S. Open title against an opponent who made a strong run at Wimbledon while the Spaniard was sidelined with an injury.

Along with some interesting opening-round matches, the draws for men's and women's singles Thursday delivered one what-could-have-been possibility: Had Serena Williams decided to play, there could have been a Williams sisters showdown in Round 1.

When Venus Williams was given a wild card into the event at 46, the U.S. Tennis Association initially held one spot, which surely would have gone to Serena if the six-time U.S. Open champion wanted to play after returning to tennis for the first time since 2022 . When the 44-year-old decided to only compete in doubles, the USTA awarded that last wild card over the weekend to American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion.

On Thursday, Venus Williams and Kenin were randomly drawn to face each other.

Main draw play at the final Grand Slam tournament of the season begins Sunday.

Alcaraz is the No. 2 seed and will face Roman Safiullin. It will be Alcaraz's first singles match since April, after the two-time U.S. Open champion was forced to miss the French Open and Wimbledon because of a right wrist injury.

The Spaniard returned to play with Serena Williams in the mixed doubles tournament and looked rusty. He may have to be sharper against Safiullin, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, upsetting Andrey Rublev and Joao Fonseca along the way before falling to 24-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic in four sets.

Safiullin also upset Alcaraz, ranked No. 2 at the time, in the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris in 2023. Alcaraz avenged that loss the following year at the Paris Olympics in their lone other meeting.

Alexander Zverev, the French Open champion who became the No. 1 seed in New York when Jannik Sinner pulled out with a knee injury , will open against Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

Two-time defending women's champion Aryna Sabalenka opens against Camila Osorio. The top-ranked Sabalenka, who has struggled during the North American hard-court season, could face Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, the No. 6 seed, in the quarterfinals.

The other potential women's quarterfinals: No. 2 Elena Rybakina vs. No. 8 Iga Swiatek, No. 3 Jessica Pegula vs. No. 7 Karolina Muchova, and No. 4 Coco Gauff vs. No. 5 Mirra Andreeva, the French Open champion.

Pegula, who opens against Elena-Gabriela Ruse, would play the Williams-Kenin winner in the second round.

The potential men's quarters: No. 1 Zverev vs. No. 6 Alex de Minaur, No. 2 Alcaraz vs. No. 8 Ben Shelton, No. 3 Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. No. 5 Flavio Cobolli, and No. 4 Djokovic vs. No. 7 Daniil Medvedev.

No. 10 seed Arthur Fils, coming off the title in the Cincinnati Open, faces two-time Grand Slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was once ranked No. 3, in the first round. Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 U.S. Open champion who received a wild card to play in his final Grand Slam tournament before retiring, faces Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, to open a second straight major tournament. Berrettini won in four sets — all tiebreakers — at the All England Club.

Rublev, the No. 23 seed, faces 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic. No. 13 Lorenzo Musetti, who reached the quarterfinals in New York last year, opens against Britain's Arthur Fery, who lost to Zverev in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Some first-round matches won't be determined until the conclusion of the qualifying tournaments, which were scheduled to finish Thursday. Potential women's contenders such as No. 11 Marta Kostyuk and No. 17 Alex Eala were among those waiting to see who they would face in their openers.

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