World No.1 Serena Williams begins her campaign for a seventh US Open and 23rd grand slam victory when she takes on the dangerous Ekaterina Makarova in the first round. Join The Roar for live scores from 9am (AEST).
Williams will go into the final Grand Slam of the year as the favourite once again, but she has been beaten twice this year, and her opponents will be hopeful of doing the same again.
While she would normally be an unbackable favourite during the first couple of rounds, the US Open has dealt her a bit of a challenge in Markarova, who only just missed out on being seeded and has been in grand slams throughout the year.
Williams form is a little bit of an unknown coming into her home grand slam given the only time she has played since Wimbledon, where she took victory was at the Rio Olympics.
After winning the first two rounds at the Olympics, she suffered a loss at the hands of Elina Svitolina in straight sets, which came as some what of a shock and means questions have to be asked moving forward.
Makarova on the other hand, has played plenty of Tennis since a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon with some mixed results.
She suffered a first round loss in Montreal before advancing to the third round at both Rio de Janeiro and New Haven, and was beaten by Petra Kvitova in both tournaments.
The pair have faced off five times previously, with Williams holding the ledger 4-1. This includes two straight victories at the US Open, with one of those during the 2014 semi-finals.
Makarova’s only victory between the pair came in the 2012 Australian Open during the fourth round and was also straight sets, meaning the pair have never played a three-set match with one always dominating the other.
Prediction
This is far from an easy first round match for Williams with Makarova having beaten her before and narrowly missing out on a seeding position, but she should get the job done.
Williams in three sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this first round US Open match from 9am (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
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