Neither Maria Sharapova nor Simona Halep picked up any kind of draw luck at the 2017 Us Open. With the release of the draw on Friday, their match stands out as the blockbuster match of the first round in women's singles. For Sharapova, her bad luck might be more the result of her low ranking while Halep's bad luck is much more genuine.
As the No. 2 seed, she might have been thinking about an easier opening match than a former champion and a former World No. 1. However, if the Romanian is to challenge for the Flushing Meadows title then she will have to dodge the early-round bullet.
Halep and Sharapova previewed
Halep and Sharapova certainly have faced one another on a bigger stage. The two players met in the French Open final back in 2014, a match that Sharapova won. All totaled, their head-to-head series is very one sided and that's bad news for Halep. Sharapova is 6-0 against the Romanian, including four victories on the hard-court surface.
A telling statistic involving these two players is that Sharapova has also gone 8-1 in the sets played against one another on cement. Furthermore, in the sets that Sharapova has defeated Halep in, on the hard-court surface, the Russian has not needed a tiebreaker on any occasion. Sharapova has gotten into Halep's serve and that has helped produce the one-sided trends in their series.
But Sharapova is not at the level of tennis right now that she was at in most previous points in her career. She pulled out of Stanford after the first round several weeks ago and then would miss both Toronto and Cincinnati. She should be match rusty heading into the first round of the US Open and that's a bad spot to be against the World No.
2. This match may seem to favor Sharapova, but she's the one still trying to find her range while Halep is five points shy of the World No. 1 ranking.
Looking ahead in the draw
The winner between Sharapova and Halep could make a run to the deep rounds. Lauren Davis is the seeded player near the two, but she has not played well in her recent outings.
Johanna Konta and Sloane Stephens are also in this quarter, but they are in the upper half of the quarter.
The Halep quarter certainly looks as though it could produce an unlikely semifinalist. Sharapova, with her 6-0 record against the Romanian, might produce a victory in the first round. However keeping up the wins is a different matter. Overall this quarter has to be considered difficult to predict with a lot of insight into who will do well wrapped up in the first-round match between these two players.
