Maria's US Open Draw

The draw for the US Open  has been released today and there are some interesting matches to be played out over the 2 weeks at Flushing Meadows.

Hopefully Maria will go far within the tournament but there are some tough matches ahead if she plans to do so. In the first round Maria will face Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) who Maria has played once before in Istanbul, 2007. Maria won this match in straight sets and should be able to repeat the performance at US Open.

Maria then goes on to face either Christina McHale (USA) or Polona Hercog (SLO) which should prove relatively easy for Maria as neither player is seeded at the USOpen and McHale recieved a wildcard into the tournament.

Maria's 3rd round opponent is a re-match of the 2009 Toronto Final where Maria came up against fellow Russian Dementieva in a match which proved closer than eventual scoreline  of 6-4 6-3 to Elena showed. This match should be the first real test for Maria in the tournament.  Out of the previous 11 meetings with Dementieva, Sharapova has won 8 of them. If Maria can produce her A-game on the day, Dementieva will prove a tough test but Sharapova should come through. However anything less than her best and it could swing the way of Elena.

If however Maria does make it through she could face Nadia Petrova (RUS) in the fourth round, who maria has defeated 3 times already in her comeback, including a three set thriller at the French Open. However there is a real chance for Jie Zheng (CHN) to get to the 4th round with Petrova's form being questionable of late.

Following this Maria, if the seeding holds true, could face Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) in the quarter- finals. The head-to-head between the two currently stands at 4-4. The last time Maria won was at the Sony Ericsson Championships 2007, and she won comfortably after dropping the first set taking the next two 6-2 6-2. However their last meeting was in Indian Wells in 2008 where Svetlana took the win 6-2 in the 3rd set and ending Maria's perfect record for the start of 2008. So if it gets this far this could be a tough match for Maria and she would need to show some good form to win, although since winning the French Open this year Kuznetsova has not been playing her best tennis, so anything is possible.

The top players seeded to meet Maria in the semi's if she goes that far are Jelena Jankovic (SRB) and Dinara Safina (RUS). Maria stands a good chance with a 4-1 head-to-head against Jankovic, last beating her in straight sets in Australia 2008. Jelena's only win has been a walk-over in Rome in 2008 when Maria withdrew with a leg strain. Against Safina, Maria also has a good chance, although they are tied 3-3 in the head-to-head. When Masha has won it has been in straight sets winning 6-2 6-3. However when Dinara has taken the match it has proved more difficult with the matches going 3 sets all times. With the nervy play Dinara has been showing recently on the big occasions Maria would stand a good chance in a match against Safina.

There are many contenders for the final, if Maria can somehow get this far, that could make it through their side of the draw. Not least Serena and Venus Williams (USA) and Kim Klijsters (BEL).  However Maria is going to have to be stringing together consistent play, scorching groundstrokes and steady serving to stand a chance of going deep in New York. Arthur Ashe Stadium has witnessed many amazing matches over the years and under the lights at Flushing Meadows anything can, and probably will happen.