Montreal, August 21, 2014 – The official draw ceremony was held on Thursday for the U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam event of the season. Six Canadians earned direct entry into the singles draws including Eugenie Bouchard (Westmount, QC), Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, ON) Sharon Fichman (Toronto, ON), Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver, BC), Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON), and Aleksandra Wozniak (Blainville, QC).
On the men’s side, Raonic is seeded fifth in the draw. He will face a qualifier in the opening round. Placed in the top half of the draw, Raonic could meet Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the fourth round. The 23-year-old Canadian enjoyed a successful summer hard court season and his results allowed him to finish first in the Emirates U.S. Open Series Bonus Challenge. For his part, Pospisil will play world no. 87 Simone Bolelli of Italy in the first round. He will also team up with American Jack Sock in doubles. The pair won Wimbledon earlier this summer in their first tournament as a team. Dancevic will take on no. 32 seed Joao Sousa of Portugal.
On the women’s side, Bouchard, who is the only WTA player to reach the semifinals of the first three Grand Slam tournaments of 2014, will open against Olga Govortsova of Belarus. The 20-year-old is seeded seventh and is in the same section of the draw as Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who she could face in the quarter-finals. Fichman will try and reach the second round of a Major for the first time when she faces off against world no. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Wozniak will play Japanese Kurumi Nara in the opening round. Wozniak won their only previous meeting in 2012 at Doha.
Françoise Abanda (Montreal, QC) and Peter Polansky (Thornhill, ON) remain in contention for a main draw spot as they enter the final stage of qualifying.