Coordinates on the grid: how did the US Open draw go for the Russians

The draw for the main draw of the 2025 US Open singles tournament took place in New York. 16 Russians were directly involved in it: four men and 12 women. Read more about the tournament prospects of the Russians in the Izvestia article.

Hopes for Khachanov

For the first time in seven years, Karen Khachanov will become the leader of Russian tennis at the US Open. He's really showing the most stable and highest level of our players right now. At Wimbledon 2025, Karen was the only Russian to reach the quarterfinals, and then performed well at the Masters in Toronto, reaching the title match, in which he lost to American Ben Shelton. Success in big tournaments helped him return to the top 10. Khachanov starts this week on the ninth line of the ATP rankings.

However, at the Masters in Cincinnati, the first racket of Russia did not finish his fourth-round match against Alexander Zverev, which is unusual for the hardy Karen. The tennis player later admitted that he decided to save himself for the last Grand Slam tournament of the season.

"For the first time in my career, I had to withdraw during a match, and I'm upset about that. I felt back pain again, which had already bothered me several times this year, so I was afraid to take risks before the US Open, which starts in 10 days. I apologize to everyone who came to support me," Khachanov wrote on social media.

Karen shouldn't have any problems at the start in New York. In the first round, he got a 20-year-old American with Indian roots, Nishesh Basavareddy, who received a wild card from the organizers. He may get the first of the "seeded" ones in the third match — Argentine Francisco Serundolo. Khachanov has excellent personal meeting statistics with him — 7-0.

The Russian also leads in the confrontation with Australian Alex De Minaur (2:1), a potential opponent in the fourth round. Therefore, Karen is able to reach the quarterfinals, where, perhaps, she will meet again with the third racket of the world Alexander Zverev. In August, Khachanov played two matches with the Russian German: he won in Toronto and withdrew from the match in Cincinnati.

There were two Russians in the same section with Zverev.: Alexander can face Roman Safiullin in the second round, and Andrei Rublev in the fourth.

The results of the former world number one Daniil Medvedev are not encouraging at all. Increasingly, he is being knocked out of the grid by players who are significantly below him in the ranking. The last tournament before the US Open ended in disaster for him. In his first match at the Cincinnati Masters, he lost to Australian Adam Walton, for whom it was the first victory over a top-50 player. Previously, Walton couldn't even take a set from such opponents.

Nevertheless, Medvedev believes in his rebirth in New York.

— Every time I come back here, I am sincerely glad. I always want to win here, because this is my only Grand Slam tournament, and I really want to win another one. This is the best chance, because the courts are perfect for my style," Daniil said before the US Open.

But the grid turned out to be unfavorable for Medvedev. He's already playing Benjamin Bonzi in the first round. The statistics of personal meetings in favor of the Frenchman are 2:0. Both times Bonzi knocked out Daniil in the first rounds of Grand Slam tournaments: at Roland Garros in 2017 and at Wimbledon this season. If the Russian can handle him, there is little hope that he will be able to advance beyond the fourth round, where world number two Carlos Alcaraz may be waiting for him.

The American Way of Myrrh

The leader of Russian women's tennis will also compete at the US Open after an injury. Mirra Andreeva, who ranks fifth in the WTA rankings, finished her third-round match at the thousandth in Montreal, but it clearly did not benefit her. In a duel against McCartney Kessler, she twisted her leg, which required medical attention. After leaving the Canadian "thousandth" Mirra withdrew from the tournament of the same category in Cincinnati.

There was no news on her condition during this period. There were doubts whether Andreeva would be able to perform in New York. The good news is that in week zero of the U.S. Open, Mirra played two short mixed doubles matches with Daniil Medvedev. This means that we should see it in the single grid. After all, it would be unwise to risk your health for the sake of, in fact, an exhibition competition, even with large prize money. Therefore, we believe that the problem has gone away.

Mirra has an unloved opponent, Coco Gauff. The American took four out of four matches from Andreeva. But now their paths can only cross in the finals. The Russian will have to start with a duel against another host of the tournament, Alicia Parks. They hadn't met before, but it's always hard for Mirra to play in front of the stands, which are against her. There are a lot of American women on tour. In New York, Andreeva can still face the "seeded" Emma Navarro (10th place in the ranking) in the fourth round and Jessica Pegula (4th) in the quarterfinals. If Mirra manages to follow this path, she can compete with Arina Sobolenko, who is defending the title this year, to reach the finals.

Andreeva has another mission in New York.: to perform well in doubles together with Diana Schneider and secure a place in the Final tournament. Things haven't been going very smoothly for Schneider in singles this season. She gave up the status of the second racket of Russia after Wimbledon, skipping ahead of Ekaterina Aleksandrova (14th place in the ranking) and Lyudmila Samsonova (19th), and fell outside the top-20 — 22- 2nd place. A year ago, she reached the fourth round at the US Open, so now she needs to defend 240 points. It will be difficult to do this, because in the third round Diana will potentially face the current second racket of Russia Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Anna Kalinskaya, who reached the finals in Washington, and Veronika Kudermetova, who stopped a step away from the title match at the thousandth in Cincinnati, performed well at North American tournaments this summer. Kalinskaya was not particularly lucky with the draw — already in the third round, a meeting with the second "seeded" Iga Sventek is possible. Kudermetova, who returned to the top 30 of the rating, seems to have a simpler grid. She starts with a match with a tennis player from the qualification, but then matches loom with big-name players: the champion of the US Open-2021 Emma Raducanu in the second round and the champion of Wimbledon-2022 Elena Rybakina in the third round.

There will be two matches in the opening round, where the rivals will not shake hands. Of the four Ukrainian tennis players in the main draw in New York, two got to the Russians: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will play with Dayana Yastremskaya, and Anna Blinkova will play with Yulia Starodubtseva.