Murray draws Bogomolov at US Open

Published on 24/08/2012 02:45

Andy Murray will play 
Russia’s Alex Bogomolov in the first round of the US Open and was placed in Roger Federer’s half when the draw was made yesterday.

Murray, who is seeded third, and Bogomolov have met three times before, with the Scot winning twice, but he did lose their first match at the Miami Masters last year.

In the first round, world No 1 Federer will face American Donald Young, who this week ended a run of 17 straight defeats by winning his first-round match against Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in Winston Salem.

Second seed Novak Djokovic meets Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi first, while David Ferrer, elevated into the top four seeds because of the absence of his injured fellow 
Spaniard Rafael Nadal, takes on South African Kevin Anderson.

British pair Heather Watson and Anne Keothavong were both handed extremely tough draws in the women’s singles.

Keothavong will face sixth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany, whose career has really taken off following her surprise run to the semi-finals in New York last year. Watson meets the ninth seed and last year’s French Open champion Li Na, who is having a superb August having reached the final in Toronto and won the Premier tournament in Cincinnati last week.

Laura Robson, who is in the main draw of a grand slam on ranking for the first time, will play a qualifier first and could meet Belgium’s Kim Clijsters in the second round as the three-times US Open champion prepares to bid farewell to the sport.

World No 1 Victoria Azarenka heads the women’s seedings and meets Alexandra Panova, while second seed Agnieszka Radwanska takes on another Russian, Nina Bratchikova. Third seed Maria Sharapova is in Azarenka’s half and will take on Hungary’s Melinda Czink in round one, with Serena Williams in the bottom half and drawn against fellow American Coco Vandeweghe.

Williams’ sister Venus is also in an all-American clash against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, while defending champion and seventh seed Sam Stosur, who upset Serena to win the title 12 months ago, meets Croatia’s Petra Martic.

Meanwhile, Johanna Konta claimed an impressive win over eighth seed Chang Kai-chen to ensure Britain’s interest in US Open qualifying extended into the second round. James Ward, Josh Goodall and Naomi Broady had all lost when Konta stepped onto the court against Chinese Taipei’s Chang, but the 21-year-old overcame a rankings gap of 91 places to win 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).

Konta, who is of Hungarian origin, switched allegiance to Britain from the land of her birth, Australia, earlier this year having lived in England since 2005. She made her grand slam main draw debut at Wimbledon in June as a wild card and went close to upsetting 28th seed Christina McHale, and she showed more of the same spirit yesterday.

Having recovered from 0-40 to level at 1-1 in the opening set, Konta made it a run of five games in a row against the hard-hitting but erratic Chang, and then shrugged off the loss of her serve to break once more and take the set.

The second was very tight, and Konta, ranked 205th, looked like she might have missed her chance when Chang saved three match points serving at 6-5 behind, but the British No 5 fought back from 4-2 down in the 
tie-break before taking her fifth opportunity.

In the second round on Thursday, Konta will face Japan’s world No 159 Kurumi Nara, who 
defeated Germany’s Kathrin Woerle 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Of the other British players in action, Ward was the only one to win a set, the 25-year-old marking his return from a broken wrist with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 defeat by former top-20 player Dmitry Tursunov.

Ward’s injury has seen him overtaken in the rankings by Goodall and Jamie Baker, but Goodall was soundly beaten 
6-3, 6-2 by Argentina’s Guido 
Andreozzi.

Broady made the final round of qualifying in New York last year but she, too, fell comprehensively at the first hurdle this time, losing 6-4, 6-2 to China’s Xu Yi-fan.