The first-ever US Open meeting between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova is set to kick off the 2019 women's tournament with a bang.
The two champions were drawn to face each other in the first round of this year's event, when the full women's singles draw was released on Thursday.
The first match in over three years between Williams, the No. 8 seed, and Sharapova, whose ranking has slipped to world No. 87 following an injury-plagued 2019 season, features in the fourth quarter at the bottom of the draw, which is anchored by No. 2 seed and French Open champion Ashleigh Barty.
Read on to learn more about the 2019 US Open women's singles draw, broken down by quarter:
TOP HALF
1st Quarter
Reigning champion and world No. 1 Naomi Osaka sits atop the draw, and will open her title defense against rising young Russian Anna Blinkova. The 20-year-old from Moscow will arrive at the US Open in form, as she advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA event in the Bronx this week.
The other seeded players in Osaka's section include two-time US Open quarterfinalist and No. 28 seed Carla Suarez Navarro as a projected third-round foe, and No. 13 seed Belinda Bencic and No. 21 seed Anett Kontaveit in the Round of 16.
In addition, an intriguing first-round clash between two teenagers—wild card Coco Gauff and Russian Anastasia Potapova—also appears in this section.
After the two squared off in the fourth round of last year's tournament, Osaka and No. 9 seed Aryna Sabalenka could be ticketed for a meeting in the quarterfinals, but the Belarusian will have her hands full out of the gates, as she's drawn to take on two-time Australian Open champion, two-time US Open finalist and former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka in the first round.
No. 7 seed Kiki Bertens anchors the bottom of the quarter as Sabalenka's projected foe in the Round of 16, with No. 23 seed Donna Vekic and No. 25 seed and former Top-10 player Julia Goerges also drawn here.
2nd Quarter
Lucky number seven—Grand Slam winners, that is—is the story of the second quarter.
A pair of Wimbledon champions are at the top and bottom of this section, with No. 4 seed and reigning Wimbledon winner Simona Halep at the top and No. 6 seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova at the bottom.
Both Top-10 stars open against qualifiers, but when all is said and done, only one woman will emerge from this star-studded section as a US Open semifinalist.
The first seed Halep could face is her projected third-round opponent, No. 31 seed Barbora Strycova, the world No. 1 in doubles who also reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in singles. It won't get any easier from there, as Halep's fourth-round foe could be former Australian Open champion and world No. 1, No. 19 seed Caroline Wozniacki; rising Canadian star and No. 15 seed Bianca Andreescu; 2019 Australian Open semifinalist Danielle Collins; or 2018 US Open quarterfinalist Lesia Tsurenko.
Further down, No. 11 seed and 2017 US Open women's champion Sloane Stephens is the projected Round-of-16 opponent for Kvitova, but she could face another in the second round.
2004 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, who recently turned back the years and beat three Top-10 players to reach the final in Cincinnati, opens against wild card and New Jersey native Kristie Ahn, with the winner to face either Stephens or a qualifier.
Two other Grand Slam champions in this section could also square off in the Round of 64. No. 24 seed Garbiñe Muguruza faces in-form American Alison Riske in the first round, and unseeded 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko faces Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic with the winners to meet.
BOTTOM HALF
3rd Quarter
2016 US Open runner-up Karolina Pliskova, the No. 3 seed, and No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina are the anchors of this quarter, which also features a host of rising stars and established veterans.
In-form No. 10 seed Madison Keys, fresh off a title at the US Open Series event in Cincinnati, opens against Japanese left-hander Misaki Doi, as Svitolina's projected Round-of-16 opponent. She could be set for a Cincy rematch against Sofia Kenin, the No. 20 seed, whom she defeated in the semifinals in Ohio—as the young American squares off against former semifinalist CoCo Vandeweghe first up.
Vandeweghe, who recently returned from a lengthy injury layoff during the US Open Series, is competing in her first Grand Slam since last year's US Open.
Unseeded Venus Williams also landed in this section and could be ticketed for a second-round meeting with Svitolina, should she solve the puzzle of China's Zheng Saisai in the opening round. Zheng, a crafty 25-year-old ranked world No. 37, recently won her first career WTA title at the Series event in San Jose.
Notable names in Pliskova's 16th of the draw include No. 16 seed Johanna Konta, who's had a resurgent 2019 and faces former Top-10 player Daria Kasatkina of Russia in the first round; No. 17 seed and French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who's been sidelined since Wimbledon with injury; and No. 27 seed and another former Top-10er Caroline Garcia.
4th Quarter
Topped by the Serena vs. Sharapova clash, the fourth quarter is anchored at the bottom by Barty, who opens against Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.
Barty could face a rematch with No. 30 seed Maria Sakkari in the third round, after the pair played just last week in the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open, while former US Open champion and No. 14 seed Angelique Kerber or No. 18 seed Wang Qiang of China could await in the Round of 16.
Kerber opens against former US Open singles quarterfinalist Kristina Mladenovic, who's also reached two US Open finals in doubles, as the German looks to reach the second week in New York for the first time since winning the title three years ago.
The second-highest seed in the Williams-Sharapova section is 2019 Open semifinalist Anastasija Sevastova at No. 12, and the Latvian opens against former Wimbledon finalist and Top-5 star Eugenie Bouchard, with surging Polish teenager Iga Swiatek and two crafty veterans—No.22 seed Petra Martic and No.29 seed Hsieh Su-wei—also in this portion of the draw.
