Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios has been drawn to face doubles partner and fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round of the US Open.
The duo, who recently won the Atlanta Open doubles title together, have never faced off at senior level in singles.
Kyrgios will be the strong favourite to beat his doubles partner and goes into the US Open as the tournament’s 23rd seed after a productive August saw him win his first singles title in three years.
Despite his seeding, the 27-year-old has been handed a tricky draw overall with 16th seed Roberto Bautista Augut awaiting him in the third round where a win would then likely see Kygrios play world number one Daniil Medevev.
The Russian is aiming to defend the US Open title he won last year but was notably beaten by Kyrgios when they last met at the Canadian Open in August.
Kyrgios has never made it past the third round of the US Open and was knocked out in the first round in 2021.
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De Minaur gets kinder draw as Aussie wildcard lands Nadal
Australia’s top-ranked male tennis player Alex de Minaur will face Filip Krajinović in the first round and won’t face a fellow seed until the third round.
Should De Minaur make it that far, he’ll likely have to beat Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta with the winner then set to face sixth-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round.
The US Open draw has also thrown up another all-Aussie match in the first round with James Duckworth and Christopher O’Connell to face off for a place in the next round.
Australian wildcard Rinky Hikikata is competing in his first Grand Slam singles event and has been thrown in the deep-end by drawing Rafael Nadal first up.
While a daunting task, Nadal has been struggling with injury and his one match in August ended in a surprise defeat.
Elsewhere, Aussie veteran John Millman will play wildcard Emilio Nava and Jason Kubler faces Mikael Ymer.
Tomljanovic could face Serena Williams
In the women’s singles draw, Australia’s top-ranked female Ajla Tomljanovic will play unseeded Karolína Muchová in the first round of the US Open and could face Serena Williams in the third round if both make it that far.
Williams faces the sterner test to make it to that point with second-seed Anett Kontaveit awaiting the American legend in the second round.
Aussie Daria Saville also faces a looming American threat in her draw with last year’s finalist Coco Gauff awaiting in the second round should Saville beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse first up.
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