First-round fireworks: Serena, Maria Sharapova to meet at US Open

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova finally will meet in the U.S. Open, and they’ll do it in their very first match.

A long-awaited Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal matchup could come only in the final.

Williams and Sharapova, past U.S. Open champions and two of the biggest stars in women’s tennis, were scheduled for an opening-round match when the draws were conducted Thursday for the final major of the year.

Williams and Sharapova have met in the finals of the other three majors and the 2012 Olympics but have not played each other in the U.S. Open. Williams owns a 19-2 record in their WTA Tour matchups and has won 18 in a row, but that lopsided number shouldn’t do much to dampen the hype around what will be the marquee match of the opening round at Flushing Meadows, which starts Monday.

Williams will begin another bid for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title. Sharapova isn’t the same player she was when she won the 2006 U.S. Open championship — or beat Williams two years earlier in the final at Wimbledon — but remains one of the most popular players among fans in New York.

Naomi Osaka, the top seed who beat Williams in last year’s final for her first major title, could face a third-round match against Coco Gauff, the 15-year-old American who made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon.

The men’s draw sent Federer, the third seed, into the top half, meaning he could play top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. They met in a classic final at Wimbledon, where Djokovic won in a fifth-set tiebreaker.

Federer and Nadal, the second seed, have not played each other in New York and could do so this year only if both make the final.

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