Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper face qualifiers in US Open first round

Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will both face qualifiers in the opening round of the US Open.

The pair are the leading British hopes for success in New York, with Draper bidding to follow up last year’s breakthrough run to the semi-finals.

Seeded fifth, the draw initially appears to have been kind to the 23-year-old, although he could face defending champion Jannik Sinner a round earlier than last year in the last eight.

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Draper will hope to find form quickly on his favoured hard courts after being forced to sit out the recent Masters 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati because of an arm injury.

He has not played a competitive singles match since a disappointing loss to Marin Cilic in the second round of Wimbledon but did play three contests in the revamped mixed doubles tournament here alongside American Jessica Pegula, with the pair beating Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz in their opening match.

Raducanu has continued her strong season over the last couple of months, elevating her ranking to 35 in the world but just missing out on a seeding by one spot.

She is still looking for her first victory at Flushing Meadows since claiming the title in 2021 as a qualifier and, while she is likely to be strongly favoured in the opening round, things will get tougher from there.

The women's singles top half draw is set! pic.twitter.com/x2eXmsYq2X

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 21, 2025

In the second round, the 22-year-old could face 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova, while ninth seed Elena Rybakina is a potential third-round opponent.

Raducanu will fancy her chances against anyone in the field, though, having taken world number one Aryna Sabalenka all the way to a deciding tie-break in Cincinnati last