The U.S. Open draw was announced on Thursday with all three Canadian men who made the main draw — Milos Raonic, Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil — finding themselves in the top half of the bracket.
After missing last year's tournament due to a wrist injury, Raonic, who enters the tournament as the 25th seed, will face Argentina's Carlos Berlocq in the first round. While it's expected Raonic won't have any issues getting past Berlocq, who is ranked 160th in the world, it's a tough stretch the rest of the way for the Thornhill, Ontario, native.
Raonic was originally supposed to face Jared Donaldson, but the American withdrew with a right knee injury.
Complete 2018 #USOpen men's draw: pic.twitter.com/1mE46wklsA
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) August 23, 2018
In the second round, he'll most likely face the eighth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov. However, it's no guarantee, as Dimitrov will have a tough match-up with the now-unseeded 2016 U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka. Raonic, who has previously made it to the round of 16 three times, could meet fellow big server, American John Isner, in this year's fourth round. It'll be a battle of aces in this match with the potential of meeting Britain's Andy Murray, who won the Open in 2012.
Compared to last year, Shapovalov has a much easier entry into this year's championship, drawing an unnamed qualifier.
In 2017, the then-18-year-old had to first make it through qualifications. In 2018, the 28-seed will face a qualifier in the first round. But like Raonic, Shapovalov also has a tough draw as he could meet up with American Sam Querrey in the second round and the fifth-seeded Kevin Anderson from Russia in the third.
If both Canadians can advance to the semifinals — a path which would likely include Shapovalov upsetting top seed Rafael Nadal — it'll be another "Battle for Canada."
As for Pospisil, while he'll face Slovakia's Lukas Lacko in the first round, the winner of that match will most likely then face Nadal.
Four Canadians also remain alive in qualifying with Francoise Abanda and Genie Bouchard on the women's side and Felix Auger-Aliassime and Peter Polansky on the men's.
The U.S. Open begins Monday, Aug. 27.