US Open 2019 draw: Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams drawn in first ever showdown at Flushing Meadows

The pair have never met before at Flushing Meadows

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will finally meet in the US Open, and they’ll do it in their very first match of the 2019 tournament.

The past US Open champions, two of the biggest stars in women’s tennis, were scheduled for an opening-round match-up when the draws were conducted Thursday for the final major of the year.

Williams and Sharapova have met in the finals of the other three majors and the 2012 Olympics but have never played each other in the US Open. Williams owns a 19-2 record in their WTA Tour match-ups, but that lopsided number shouldn’t do much to dampen the hype around what will be the marquee match of the opening round at Flushing Meadows, which begins Monday.

Williams will begin another bid for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title. Sharapova isn’t the same player she was when she won the 2006 US Open championship — or beat Williams two years earlier in the final at Wimbledon — but remains one of the most popular players among fans in New York.

The men’s draw sent No 3 seed Roger Federer into the top half of the draw, meaning he could play top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. They met in the final at Wimbledon, where Djokovic won in a fifth-set tiebreaker.

Federer and No 2 seed Rafael Nadal have never played each other in New York and could do so this year only if both make the final.

Reuters