US Open 2025: Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper to play qualifiers in opening round at Flushing Meadows
The draw is set for the US Open with Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper meeting qualifiers in the opening round at Flushing Meadows; the US Open is live on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app from August 24
Saturday 23 August 2025 18:17, UK
British stars Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will both play qualifiers in their opening matches at this year's US Open.
Raducanu, who could face former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the third round, will be first on Louis Armstrong Stadium against American-born Japanese player Ena Shibahara as the tournament begins on Sunday, live on Sky Sports from 4pm.
Draper will start his campaign on Monday against world No 127 Federico Gomez as he looks to build on the success he enjoyed at Flushing Meadows last year. But he could meet defending champion Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals if both win through.
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Back at the top of the British rankings, Raducanu is playing probably some of her best tennis since her remarkable US Open triumph in 2021 - although that bar is lower after a turbulent few years due to injury.
Her informal coaching arrangement with Mark Petchey appeared to be working, with the 22-year-old enjoying a run to the semi-finals of the Washington Open, but she has now brought in Rafael Nadal's former coach Francis Roig ahead of the Grand Slam in New York.
Spanish coach Roig worked alongside Nadal and with Nadal's uncle Toni for the majority of his career, where he won 22 Grand Slam titles.
The other British women have been handed tough draws, with Katie Boulter taking on 27th seed Marta Kostyuk and Sonay Kartal meeting 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Draper warmed up for the singles tournament reaching the mixed doubles semi-finals, with him and Jessica Pegula beating Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz along the way.
World No 5 Draper is hoping to be a force this year. In 2024 he reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows before losing to eventual champion Sinner.
Ahead of the tournament he had to withdraw from events in Toronto and Cincinnati due to a forearm injury, but has now recovered ahead of this US Open return.
Wimbledon quarter-finalist Cameron Norrie faces American Sebastian Korda while Jacob Fearnley will make his US Open debut against Roberto Bautista Agut, with the winner likely to meet third seed Alexander Zverev.
Djokovic to face teenager Tien
Novak Djokovic is in the same half of the draw as Alcaraz. The Serb, the winner of 24 Grand Slam titles, will face Learner Tien, a 19-year-old left-hander who upset Daniil Medvedev en route to the fourth round of this year's Australian Open.
Alcaraz, the No 2 seed, will start against Reilly Opelka, a former top-20 player before injuries who is 6ft 11in with a powerful serve that he rode to the fourth round in New York in 2021.
Sinner, who was on court practising on Thursday after retiring in tears with illness in Monday's final in Cincinnati against Alcaraz, starts off with Vit Kopriva before facing either Alexei Popyrin or Emil Ruusuvuori if he wins, then will likely take on Denis Shapovalov, followed by Tommy Paul.
Tough opener for Venus
Defending women's champion Sabalenka plays Spain's Rebeka Masarova in round one while second seed Iga Swiatek and third seed Coco Gauff are both in the bottom half.
Forty-five-year-old Venus Williams is returning to Flushing Meadows for her first Grand Slam singles appearance since the 2023 US Open. Having entered the tournament as a wild card, Williams will face No 11 seed Karolina Muchova in the first round.
No 3 seed Gauff, who won her first major title in the 2023 US Open, will first face Ajla Tomljanovic, the Australian who beat Williams' younger sister Serena in her final match in 2022.
Jones, Harris closing in on main draw
British duo Fran Jones and Billy Harris both claimed hard-fought US Open qualifying victories to move within a win of the main draw at Flushing Meadows.
Jones, the top seed in the women's qualifying draw, battled to a 6-1 7-6 (13-11) victory over Georgia's Ekaterine Gorgodze in difficult windy conditions to reach the third and final round.
Billy Harris came from a set down to beat veteran Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-2 in the second round of the men's event.
It was a mixed day for the British contingent on the whole, with Jodie Burrage, Harriet Dart, Jay Clarke and Oliver Crawford all suffering defeats.
After easing through the opening set, Jones found herself 4-1 down in the second and then 6-2 down in the tie-break against the World No 226, but she fought back both times, saving four set points before eventually clinching her fifth match point.
"If I could swear, I would!" Jones told Sky Sports after the match.
"It was really difficult, she makes you play a lot of balls. She played some really good tennis in the second set, but I just didn't want to be out here in a third set today."
Jones, who is ranked 86th, only narrowly missed out on an automatic place in the main draw, and will face Dutchwoman Arianne Hartono on Friday, live on Sky Sports from 4pm.
Harris had to come from behind to beat Kazakhstan's Kukushkin, losing a lengthy first set before dominating from that point onwards.
The world No 151 reeled off nine successive games to take total control, and faces Hong Kong's Coleman Wong in the final round on Friday.
Wins for both Jones and Harris on Friday could raise the number of British players across the men's and women's singles main draws to eight.
Not featuring in the main draw this time around will be Burrage and Dart, who have both reached the second round in New York in the past.
Burrage lost 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4 to Dutch 18th seed Arantxa Rus, while Dart was defeated 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 by Ayana Akli of the US.
In the men's draw, Clarke was seen off 6-3 6-4 by qualifying top seed Arthur Cazaux of France, while Crawford lost 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to American Garrett Johns.
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