Andy Murray seeded to meet Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal in US Open final

Meanwhile, Johanna Konta faces a first-round meeting with Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and could renew her rivalry with Simona Halep in the quarter-finals

Questions still hang over Andy Murray's fitness ahead of the US Open (Getty)

Andy Murray has a long way to go before he will even think about such matters but the Scot might be heartened by the fact that he cannot meet either Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer until the final of the US Open, which begins here on Monday.

Murray, who has not played since Wimbledon because of a hip injury, is seeded No 2 for the year’s concluding Grand Slam tournament. If the players live up to their seedings, his semi-final opponent will be Alexander Zverev, the 20-year-old German who has made such a big breakthrough this summer, winning two Masters Series titles.

Nadal, who replaced Murray at the top of the world rankings this week, is seeded to face Federer in the semi-finals. The Spaniard and the Swiss have won this year’s first three Grand Slam titles, Nadal having triumphed in Paris and Federer at Melbourne and Wimbledon.

Murray’s fitness has been a concern ever since the start of the grass-court season and his injured hip was clearly a major factor in his quarter-final defeat to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon. He has since pulled out of the Masters Series tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati but has been practising here this week and clearly feels fit enough to play in his first tournament since Wimbledon.

The draw has certainly been kind to the Scot, who will face a 26-year-old American, the splendidly named Tennys Sandgren, in the first round. The world No 104 is of Swedish heritage and was named after his great grandfather.

Sandgren made 12 unsuccessful attempts to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament until his world ranking was finally good enough to get him into this year’s French Open, where he lost to Mikhail Kukushkin in straight sets in the first round. He then lost in the second round of qualifying at Wimbledon but rebuilt his ranking sufficiently to get into the main draw here.

In the second round Murray or Sandgren will face Germany’s Florian Mayer, the world No 75, or Brazil’s Rogario Dutra Silva, the world No 68.

Murray's fitness is once again in doubt ahead of the year's final Grand Slam (Getty) (Daniel Leal-Olivas)

Thereafter Murray is seeded to meet Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman in the third round, France’s Lucas Pouille in the fourth and France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals. Murray has never played Schwartzman (world No 33), has won all four of his meetings with Pouille (world No 20) and 14 of his 16 matches against Tsonga (world No 12).

Kyle Edmund faces the Dutchman, Robin Haase, who is the No 32 seed, in the first round, while Aljaz Bedene, the other Briton in the main draw by dint of his world ranking, will play Russia’s Andrey Rublev, with Grigor Dimitrov, the world No 9, a potential second-round opponent.

Britain’s Cameron Norrie, the world No 226, will be in the main draw here for the first time after winning his final match in qualifying, beating Japan’s Go Soeda 6-1, 7-5. Norrie, aged 22, made his Grand Slam debut this summer at Wimbledon, where he was given a wild card but lost in straight sets to Tsonga in the first round. He will learn the identity of his first-round opponent here after all the qualifying matches have been completed.

Kyle Edmund meets Robin Haase in the first round (Getty)

Johanna Konta faces a first-round meeting with Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic, the world No 77. Krunic, aged 24, had one of the best runs of her career when she reached the fourth round here as a qualifier three years ago, beating Madison Keys and Petra Kvitova before losing to Victoria Azarenka.

Konta or Krunic will play either Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic or Sweden’s Johanna Larsson in the second round. Thereafter Konta is seeded to meet Germany’s Julia Goerges in the third round and Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth.

In the quarter-finals Konta could renew her rivalry with Simona Halep, the world No 2. Konta beat Halep at the same stage at Wimbledon last month but lost to the Romanian in Cincinnati last week. If she reaches the semi-finals Konta could face either Garbine Muguruza, the Wimbledon champion, or Caroline Wozniacki, a former runner-up here.

Sharapova, who was handed a wild card for the US Open, has been drawn against Halep (Getty)

The draw threw up one remarkable first-round match as Halep was paired with Maria Sharapova, who is playing here with a wild card as she continues her comeback after a 15-month suspension because of a doping offence.

Halep has reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals in her last two visits to Flushing Meadows but in Sharapova she faces a former champion, the 30-year-old Russian having won the title here in 2006. Sharapova, nevertheless, has had injury problems since beginning her comeback in April and needed a wild card because she is currently ranked too low – at No 147 in the world – to earn direct entry into the main draw.

Britain’s Heather Watson will face France’s Alize Cornet in the first round. Katie Boulter and Naomi Broady both fell at the final hurdle in qualifying. Boulter, who made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon this summer, was beaten 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 by Turkey’s Ipek Soylu, while Broady lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to Nicole Gibbs, of the United States.