Serena Williams is expected to be a major contender this year in Flushing Meadows – We examine her potential route to the final

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Serena Williams has made an incredible return to competitive tennis after almost a year out of the game, and she’ll enter this season’s U.S Open as a serious challenger for the title. If she can stay fit during the next two weeks, it would be no surprise to see her clinch yet another slam.

She’ll start with a first round meeting with Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia. Jovanovski has made superb progress this year, and seems destined to be a future star of the WTA. Even so, Williams should have too much firepower for the 19 year-old.

Williams will then take on either Eleni Daniilidou or a qualifier. Williams has a 4-0 head to head record against Daniilidou, and has never lost a set against her. This should be another clash that Williams will get through with minimal fuss.

After this, things get a lot tougher for the world No. 29, as Victoria Azarenka is expected to be her opponent in round three. That said, the fourth seed has lost her last three matches against Williams, and these defeats include a recent loss in Toronto.

If Williams gets past Azarenka, she’s likely to face Ana Ivanovic or Shahar Peer in round four. Williams has a 2-0 head to head record against Ivanovic, and a 5-0 record against Peer. If Serena is at her best, she’ll have a great chance of making the quarter-finals.

The quarter-finals could be tricky for Williams. Francesca Schiavone, Jelena Jankovic or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova could be her opponent. With her recent title victories taken into account, the American would be the favourite to win against any of these opponents, though none of these players would be expected to end up on the receiving end of a thrashing.

Semi-final opponents for the 29 year-old include world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, Na Li, Andrea Petkovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Williams may then face highly regarded players such as Vera Zvonareva, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova or Marion Bartoli in the final. There’s even an outside chance that she’ll be up against her sister, Venus.

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