Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams in spiteful clash at US Open
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will play out the latest chapter of their spiteful rivalry at the US Open in what promises to be a spicy first-round clash.
Serena, a six-time US Open champion, and Sharapova, the 2006 champion, will face off in the opening round at Flushing Meadows next week.
It will be their first meeting at Flushing Meadows, where Williams, 37, won her first grand slam title 20 years ago.
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However it will take on extra significance - with both women publicly expressing their dislike of each other in recent years.
In her autobiography released in 2017, Sharapova said she’ll never be friends with Serena even though they probably should be.
Serena then said she was disappointed that Sharapova had chosen to include a description of her crying in the locker room after her loss in the 2004 Wimbledon final.
The 36-year-old described some references to her as "100 percent hearsay", while other revelations in Sharapova's memoir she dismissed as "not necessarily true".
Williams, seeded eighth, has won 23 grand slam titles - the last at the Australian Open in 2017.
That compares with five for Sharapova, 32, whose last grand slam win was at the 2014 French Open.
Williams holds a 19-2 record over Sharapova, who last year reached the round of 16 at the US Open.
Sharapova defeated Williams in their last meeting, a round-of-16 pairing at the 2018 French Open.
Thursday's draw for the final grand slam of the year also set the opening-round match for top women's seed and defending champion Naomi Osaka.
She will face Anna Blinkova of Russia, ranked 93rd.
Second seed Ashleigh Barty, this year's French Open champion, will face Kazakh Zarina Diyas in the first round of the US Open.
It will be the first time the 23-year-old Australian, who won three of her six career titles this year, faces the 77th-ranked 25-year-old from Kazakhstan.
Federer and Djokovic land on same side
Wimbledon finalists Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are on a semi-final collision course after they were placed in the same half of the draw.
Top seed Djokovic, who saved two match points in the All England Club final to deny Federer a record ninth title at the grasscourt championships, will start his campaign against 76th-ranked Roberto Carballes Baena in New York next week.
The Serbian then faces a potential second-round showdown against American Sam Querrey.
Third seed Federer, who won the last of his five Flushing Meadows trophies in 2008, will open against a qualifier as he chases a 21st grand slam title.
Djokovic has a 26-22 head-to-record record against Federer, and has won their last four meetings.
They are 3-3 at Flushing Meadows, with Djokovic winning the last three times, most recently in the 2015 final.
On the other side of the draw, second seed Rafael Nadal, who was beaten by Federer in the Wimbledon semi-finals, will play Australian John Millman in the first round of the hardcourt major which starts on Monday.
Millman reached the US Open quarter-finals last year after knocking out Federer in the last 16.
The Spaniard, three-times a champion in New York, could run into 2014 champion Marin Cilic in the fourth round.
with agencies