Serena Williams handed brutal opener at US Open

The American superstar is a hot favourite with bookies to claim the final Grand Slam of the season, but faces 28-year-old Russian Makarova in what will be a very tough opening match.

Makarova made the semi-finals at both the 2014 US Open and 2015 Australian Open, entering the world's top ten as a result; and the reason she is now world number 36 is because of a spate of injuries she suffered last season.

Makarova lost that 2014 semi-final match to Serena in Flushing Meadows - but she has experience of beating the American, having knocked her out of the 2012 Australian Open at the semi-final stage.

Should she progress, Serena will likely face Simona Halep in the quarter-finals, before potentially taking on either Agnieska Radwanska or her sister Venus Williams in the semi-finals.

Going by seedings, the other half of the quarter-final draw is tipped to pit Garbine Muguruza against Madison Keys and Angelique Kerber against Roberta Vinci.

Serena Williams - #1 v Ekaterina Makarova - #36

Antonia Lottner - #184 v Vania King - #87

Karin Knapp - #131 v Johanna Larsson - #62

Denisa Allertová - #90 v Ana Ivanovic - #31

Darya Kasatkina - #24 v Qiang Wang - #61

Lara Arruabarrena - #91 v Yaroslava Shvedova - #50

Shuai Zhang - #49 v Ellen Perez

Camila Giorgi - #66 v Samantha Stosur - #17

Carla Suárez - #12 v Teliana Pereira - #137

Mariana Duque - #76 v Jelena Jankovic - #41

Annika Beck - #42 v Nadia Podoroska - #232

Anett Kontaveit - #96 v Elena Vesnina - #20

Tímea Babos - #33 v Barbara Haas - #140

Heather Watson - #75 v Richel Hogenkamp - #165

Lucie Šafárová - #35 v Daria Gavrilova - #45

Kirsten Flipkens - #68 v Simona Halep - #5

Agnieszka Radwanska - #4 v Jessica Pegula - #139

Naomi Broady - #83 v Laura Robson - #247

Katerina Siniaková - #73 v Eugenie Bouchard - #40

Pauline Parmentier - #63 v Caroline Garcia - #27

Kiki Bertens - #21 v Ana Konjuh - #100

Kurumi Nara - #81 v Stefanie Vögele - #98

Shuai Peng - #260 v Varvara Lepchenko - #69

Vitalia Diatchenko v Timea Bacsinszky - #16

Karolína Plíšková - #11 v Sofia Kenin - #246

Montserrat González - #194 v Danka Kovinic - #53

Nao Hibino - #70 v Kristina Mladenovic - #37

Louisa Chirico - #79 v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - #18

Laura Siegemund - #28 v Patricia Tig - #129

Nicole Gibbs - #72 v Aleksandra Krunic - #153

Julia Görges - #64 v Yanina Wickmayer - #38

Kateryna Kozlova - #92 v Venus Williams - #6

Madison Keys - #9 v Alison Riske - #59

Madison Brengle - #48 v Kayla Day

Maria Sakkari - #94 v Yingying Duan - #103

Naomi Osaka - #82 v CoCo Vandeweghe - #30

Barbora Strýcová - #19 v Monica Niculescu - #57

Sorana Cirstea - #88 v Ana Bogdan - #117

Taylor Townsend - #146 v Caroline Wozniacki - #51

Francesca Schiavone - #95 v Svetlana Kuznetsova - #10

Johanna Konta - #14 v Bethanie Mattek-Sands - #109

Tsvetana Pironkova - #71 v Virginie Razzano - #166

Andrea Petkovic - #44 v Kristína Kucová - #77

Samantha Crawford - #99 v Belinda Bencic - #26

Mónica Puig - #34 v Saisai Zheng - #60

Su-Wei Hsieh - #78 v Kateryna Bondarenko - #58

Anastasija Sevastova - #52 v Anna Karolína Schmiedlová - #86

Elise Mertens - #138 v Garbiñe Muguruza - #3

Roberta Vinci - #8 v Anna-Lena Friedsam - #46

Christina McHale - #54 v Mona Barthel - #97

Yulia Putintseva - #43 v Sabine Lisicki - #85

Carina Witthöft - #101 v Misaki Doi - #32

Irina Begu - #22 v Lesia Tsurenko - #80

Yafan Wang - #163 v Alison Van Uytvanck - #112

Danielle Collins v Evgeniya Rodina - #102

Magda Linette - #84 v Dominika Cibulková - #13

Petra Kvitová - #15 v Jelena Ostapenko - #39

Irina Falconi - #74 v Çagla Büyükakçay - #67

Aliaksandra Sasnovich - #107 v Lauren Davis - #105

Mandy Minella - #110 v Elina Svitolina - #23

Sara Errani - #29 v Shelby Rogers - #55

Catherine Bellis - #158 v Viktorija Golubic - #65

Alizé Cornet - #47 v Mirjana Lucic-Baroni - #56

Polona Hercog - #116 v Angelique Kerber - #2