2018 US Open: When is the draw?
The draw for the 2018 US Open will take place on Thursday, August 23, at 2pm local time.
The competition itself begins a few days later, on August 27 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, NY, and the women's singles will conclude on Saturday, September 8, with the doubles taking place a day later.
The 128-strong field, which is constructed around the July 16 edition of the WTA rankings, will be headed by defending champion and third seed Sloane Stephens, who defeated Madison Keys, 6-3, 6-0, in an all-American encounter last year.
World No.1 Simona Halep is top seed, with Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki seeded second.
READ: 2018 US Open seeds - Halep No.1
Meanwhile, 17th seed Serena Williams will be in the spotlight once again, barely three weeks after withdrawing from the Rogers Cup in Montréal for personal reasons.
She has six US Open titles to her credit and a seventh would carry her past the mark set by Chris Evert to allow her to become the most successful player in the Open era of the competition.
LOOK: 2018 US Open seeds in pictures
In total, there will be 11 Grand Slam singles champions in the 128-strong field, with six who have previously tasted success at the US Open. As well as Stephens and Serena, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Samantha Stosur and Angelique Kerber are all on the roll of honour at Flushing Meadows.
One hundred players were granted awarded automatic entry into the tournament, while first alternate Caroline Dolehide has also been given a place following the withdrawal of Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Vania King, Natalia Vikhlyantseva and Marketa Vondrousova are also in the draw as Catherine Bellis, Peng Shuai and Elena Vesnina have pulled out.
Sixteen places are available in the main draw for players to who win through the US Open Qualifying Tournament, which runs from August 21 to 24, while the USTA has awarded eight wildcards.
Frenchwoman Harmony Tan was the first to be awarded a slot via this route. Americans Amanda, Anisimova, Claire Liu, Asia Muhammad and Whitney Osuigwe have since been given berths, along with Australia's Lizette Carbrera.
Former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and two-time finalist Victoria Azarenka complete the wildcard line up.
The qualifying draw took place on August 20.
American women have typically dominated their home Grand Slam over the course of the last half century. Over the course of 50 years, they have picked up 25 victories and account for 10 wins in the last two decades.
