US Open 2010: Murray to take on Lacko in his opening match
The fourth ranked tennis ace from Great Britain, Andy Murray will meet Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko in his first round match of the United States Open 2010, starting Monday.
Andy, one of the favorites to win the title at Flushing Meadows this year, is in the same draw as the world no. 1 Rafael Nadal while on the other hand, Lacko is currently number 72 in the world rankings and has had recent victories over Marcos Baghdatis and Lleyton Hewitt. Nadal will also play his first match against Teymuraz Gabashvili, whereas the women’s top seed Caroline Wozniacki will take on Chelsey Gullickson in her opening match.
Similarly, the five-time US Open winner and last season’s runner up Roger Federer will play Brian Dabul from Argentina in his first round match while Serbian tennis ace, Novak Djokovic will meet the compatriot Viktor Troicki with Baghdatis, in-form Fish as well as the ninth seed Andy Roddick also in his quarter. Another Argentinean, Juan Martin del Potro pulled out of the tournament as he yet has to recover completely from his wrist injury. Murray might face problems during his first two rounds but the 25 seed Stanislas Wawrinka could prove to be a clear hurdle in his third round clash, the Swiss having taken the Scott in a total of five memorable sets at the grass court Grand Slam back in 2009. Spain’s Nicolas Almagro is likely to meet Murray in the fourth round clash; however, the 20th seed Sam Querrey might prove more destructive for him having defeated Andy to capture the Los Angeles trophy, earlier this month.
In case, the Scott manages to make it to the final eight, he will have a wonderful opportunity to avenge his recent French Open defeat by getting the better of Tomas Berdych in New York. Rafa, who is looking to complete his set of major titles, could be Murray’s opponent in the semi final, the same stage at which Andy had toppled the Spaniard back in 2008. Andy Murray had lost his first major final at the hands of Federer and the Swiss could be a major hurdle in his way to the final battle once again this time at the Flushing Meadows. However, will Andy be able to make it that far? It’s a question yet to be answered.
In the women's section, Elena Baltacha, who is a top ranked Brit, has been drawn versus Petra Martic whereas Anne Keothavong will take on Yung-Jan Chan from Taipei in their opening round matches. The former US Open winners, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova are in the same draws as Caroline; whereas last season’s top seed Dinara Safina will meet the 24 seed Daniela Hantuchova. The third seed American, Venus Williams would be up against the Italian Roberta Vinci in her first match, while fourth seed Jelena Jankovic will meet Simona Halep from Romania.
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