World No. 2 Andy Murray has learned his potential route to the US Open title as the main draw was made on Friday. Murray, 30, was handed a favorable draw as he is set to play for the first time in nearly two months. The 30-year-old last played in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, losing to USA's Sam Querrey.

Murray, who has been plagued by a hip injury for quite some time, took a break after Wimbledon to heal his damaged hip. The Scot decided to skip all the previous US hard-court swing events but remained keen on playing at the US Open. Though he is lacking matches, Murray could profit from a favorable draw -- win a few opening matches and get into playing rhythm.

An open path to the fourth-round

Murray has been drawn to meet world No. 104 Tennys Sandgren in round one at the US Open. Sandgren, 26, is set to make a debut at Flushing Meadows. The two have no previous meeting but the Scot is the clear favorite to impose over local Sandgren.

Then, Murray's second-round opponent would likely be the experienced Florian Mayer. Germany's Mayer is set to face off against Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva in the opening round. The head-to-head record between Murray and Mayer stands on Murray's side, who has a 3-1 lead over the German. Though Murray lost their last meeting -- which came in Doha 2014 -- he should beat the world No. 75 and book a third-round spot. Murray beat Mayer at the US Open in straight sets four years ago.

Promising Thanasi Kokkinakis and Argentina's Diego Schwartzman are the frontrunners to meet Murray in a potential third-round matchup. Murray has beaten Kokkinakis in their only match played, while he has yet to clash off against Schwartzman. In any case, it would be a big ask for both Kokkinakis and Schwartzman to outclass the Scot in a best-of-five sets clash.

Two French players in a row?

Murray could be up to back-to-back matches against two French players if he makes it past the opening three rounds. The predicted matchups see Murray meeting France's Lucas Pouille in the fourth-round and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals, respectively. Murray has never had any problems against either of the two French stars.

Murray has four wins and zero losses against Pouille and a dominant 16-2 head-to-head record over Tsonga, who fell to the Scot at the US Open in 2014.

A rising star and two greats

Should Murray go all the way to the US Open semi-final stage, he could be facing No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev. World No. 6 Zverev is having a tremendous season, having reached his career-high ranking of No. 6 and won Masters 1000 events in Rome and Montreal. The two met at last year's Australian Open, where the rising German easily lost to the Scot.

However, the 20-year-old has improved much since, and would certainly be a tougher matchup for Murray this time.

The great Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer are the likeliest players to conquer the top half of the draw and set up a potential final meeting with Murray.
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