Iga Swiatek vs Coco Gauff vs Aryna Sabalenka: Who has the easier draw at US Open 2024?

Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, and Coco Gauff, the top three ranked women on the WTA Tour, are among the top picks to win the US Open 2024. The draw was unveiled on Thursday, August 22, with the Pole being placed in the top half, while the other two landed in the bottom half.

Sabalenka is the only one out of the three to win a title on hardcourts this summer, winning the Cincinnati Open. Swiatek reached the semifinals there, while Gauff bowed out in the second round.

The three will now aim to add another Major title to their trophy cabinet. On that note, here's a quick comparison to see how their draws stack up against each other:

Iga Swiatek

Swiatek will start against lucky loser Kamila Rakhimova, and could meet either Daria Saville or doubles specialist Ena Shibahara in the second round. She's expected to cruise through both of these rounds. She's likely to meet 25th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round, and beat her 6-0, 6-0 in their only prior encounter at last year's Italian Open.

Swiatek's first real test could come in the fourth round, where she could be against Mirra Andreeva or Liudmila Samsonova. The teenager pushed her to three sets at the Cincinnati Open but Pole managed to sneak past her.

Samsonova is also a tricky player to deal with, though Swiatek has a 3-0 record against her. It gets tougher for the World No. 1 after that, with Jessica Pegula likely to be waiting for her in the quarterfinals. The American won the Canadian Open, and was the runner-up in Cincinnati.

However, Pegula has lost all six of her prior Grand Slam quarterfinal matches. Based on the seedings, Elena Rybakina should ideally meet Swiatek in the semifinals. She leads the Pole 4-2 in the head-to-head. However, the Kazakh is yet to move beyond the third round of the US Open.

Swiatek's nemesis Jelena Ostapenko, who's 4-0 against her, could also meet her in the semifinals. However, the Latvian faces Naomi Osaka in the first round. If the latter catches fire, then she could instead make the last four. Thus, the Pole's first three matches here are quite easy but could find herself in trouble in her next three.

Coco Gauff

Gauff will commence her title defense against Varvara Gracheva, ranked as high as No. 39 at the start of the season. While she has been quite inconsistent this season, this could still prove to be a tough encounter for the young American.

With either the slumping Tatjana Maria or qualifier Solana Sierra as Gauff's possible second-round foes, this should be a very winnable stage for her. 27th seed Elina Svitolina is her probable opponent in the third round. She needed three sets to beat the Ukrainian in the Auckland final earlier this year.

Svitolina is a former US Open semifinalist, so Gauff will need to be on her toes for this one. Her potential fourth-round match-up could be against Emma Navarro, who knocked her out of Wimbledon at the same stage.

Gauff could get a slight reprieve in the quarterfinals, depending on her opponent. The highest-ranked players she could meet at this stage are Barbora Krejcikova and Maria Sakkari. The Czech is battling an injury following her Wimbledon triumph, and the Greek hasn't made it past the third round of the last 10 Majors.

The American will be favored to win against those two. However, the in-form Paula Badosa could manage to upset her if she makes it this far. The Spaniard won the Citi Open and made the semifinals in Cincinnati.

Gauff could set up a re-match of last year's US Open summit clash with Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. The latter triumphed in Cincinnati, and beat her en route to the Australian Open title this year as well. While the 20-year-old beat her in the final last year, she will be the underdog this time.

Aryna Sabalenka

Having won the Cincinnati Open, Sabalenka is the frontrunner to win the US Open. She should breeze past qualifier Priscilla Hon in the first round, who has never won a main draw match here. Surprise Wimbledon quarterfinalist Lulu Sun could offer some resistance in the second round, though the Belarusian will be expected to prevail.

29th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova is a player who could trouble Sabalenka in the third round but she has been wildly inconsistent this year. Madison Keys almost eliminated the Belarusian in the US Open semifinals last year, and could set up a fourth-round date with her this time.

However, Keys is finding her footing after a recent injury, and may not make it that far. Elise Mertens and Katerina Siniakova are other possible opponents for her at this stage, and both are winnable opportunities.

Seventh seed Zheng Qinwen is expected to meet Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. The latter beat the former in the final of the Australian Open in straight sets, and in the quarterfinals of last year's US Open.

However, with Zheng drawn against Amanda Anisimova in her opener, she could bow out earlier than expected. The American is 5-2 against Sabalenka, and recently dumped her out of the Canadian Open en route to the final.

Another potential quarterfinal opponent for Sabalenka could be Donna Vekic. The latter made the Wimbledon semifinals and bagged the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. She's also 6-2 against the Belarusian.

Should she make it through this banana peel of a round, then Gauff, Sakkari, Krejcikova, and Badosa are among her probable semifinal opponents. As mentioned earlier, only the Spaniard is in good form at the moment. The rivalry leans in Sabalenka's favor as she leads their head-to-head 5-2.

Swiatek, Gauff, and Sabalenka have all gotten fairly balanced draws this time. Each of them have their toughest opponents to overcome at some point, and start off with some easy rounds, and road to the title gets tougher after that for each of them.

Edited by Rohit