There is no doubt about the headline first-round matchup on either side of the U.S. Open–men’s or women’s. It’s none other Simona Halep vs. Maria Sharapova. With Sharapova unseeded due to her 2016 suspension and subsequent injury layoff, she is unseeded and was therefore left at the mercy of the draw.
To say it did not work out well for her–or for Halep–would be a gross understatement.
Sharapova, however, will not be afraid to go up against the upcoming fortnight’s second seed. In fact, the 30-year-old Russian boasts an incredible–and perfect–6-0 lifetime head-to-head record at Halep’s expense. They have squared off three times on hard courts, with Sharapova most recently getting the job done 6-4, 6-4 at the 2015 WTA Finals in Singapore.
“That’s the one player everybody wanted to see where she would land,” commentator Mary Joe Fernandez assured. “No top seed wanted to draw Maria Sharapova (in the) first round. I don’t think Maria’s going to be intimidated, because I don’t think anyone intimidates her.”
“It’s an exciting match,” defending U.S. Open champion Angelique Kerber noted. “I mean, for the first round it’s a tough match for both of them.”
Kerber, meanwhile, has struggled this year following her breakout 2016 season. Thus the German finds herself with the No. 6 seed in New York City. She will begin her tournament against Naomi Osaka before a possible fourth-round date with French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko and a possible quarterfinal contest against Elina Svitolina.
Elsewhere in the top half of the bracket, No. 1 seed Karolina Pliskova is on a collision course for the quarterfinals with Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Among those missing from the women’s field of 128 are Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. Venus Williams, though, will try to pick up the slack for tennis’ first family–just as she did at Wimbledon (runner-up). Venus is on the bottom half of the draw in a section that also features Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza and former U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki.
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Maria SHARPova is not SHARP enough to outHELP HALEP!…as SHARPova’s form is not SHARP! She will be error-some like Petra Kavitova and will exit quicker than she came to the USO courts!lol
Instead HALEP will HELP SHARPova to go back to Russia quickly and hibernate for the Autumn and winter. And possibly try new banned drugs during hibernation to be caught next year!lol
HALEP in 2
CURBER will be kicked to the CURB in the 1st or the 2nd rd! Sorry CURB’s, the current generation has passed you! Need to re-invent your game with more athletic fitness to run like one of our squirrels=Halep, “The Dominatrix” etc. LOL
Interesting Halep/Sharapova match-up.
Sharapova, possibly in 3.
Maria Sharapova has nothing to fear she has defeated Simona Halep six times H2H 6-0.
Maria has a shot, she can win this match but my only concern is that she has just played 1 match on hard court this year and 8 on clay that’s 9 matches in total, Simona Halep has played 53 matches in total 21 on hard court but her last match was an insult to all her fans and tennis lovers especially the ladies, am i right ladies?
She played rubbish 6-1, 6-0 she won just one game can you imagine that, i just want to bite her lol!
Vamos My Shara Shara.
Halep is in contention for # 1. Bad match up. Maria will beat her in 3 then withdraw due to injury. Field opens up more, Garbine wins it all
Halep such a mentally bad player. Can’t win big matches. Going for number one in Cincinnati finals and wins one game against Muguruza LOL. She won’t beat sharapova.