With the US Open drawing ever closer, we take a quick look at the draw for the women’s singles

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With Serena Williams seeded 28th, and Venus Williams unseeded, the draw for this year’s US Open should provide plenty of excitement from day one. Venus will begin against Vesna Dolonts, and could then be set for an eagerly anticipated second round meeting with an in-form Sabine Lisicki. Lisicki has been in superb form this year, and her ferocious serve should give her a chance if this clash takes place.

Serena ‘s most notable early threat is fourth seed Victoria Azarenka. The Belarusian is a possible third round opponent for Serena, and it seems very likely that the pairing will meet.

World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki appears to have a relatively straightforward run ahead of her. She may have to contend with Jarmila Gajdosova in the third round, and Daniela Hantuchova or Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarter-finals, but these are matches that she’ll enter as the favourite.

Second seed Vera Zvonareva should be able to survive until at least the third round, where she’s likely to meet Anabel Medina Garrrigues. The Spaniard has had knee problems of late though, and in reality the Russian might not be in too much trouble prior to the quarter-finals, where Venus, Lisicki or Dominika Cibulkova could be waiting.

Elsewhere in the draw, it will be worth keeping an eye out for Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Na Li, Francesca Schiavone and Marion Bartoli. Sharapova has been showing signs of the form that made her the world No. 1, and the hard courts are well suited to her game.

Li, who has excelled in this year’s slams, will be ready to make another title challenge. She’ll need to be prepared to take on Simona Halep in round one though. The Romanian can be a tricky opponent.

Wimbledon champion Kvitova isn’t considered to be one of the main contenders necessarily, but shouldn’t be overlooked. The draw has been fairly forgiving to her, and it would be no surprise to see her reach the latter stages.

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