Us Open Tennis 2017 Women's Draw

Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns to Nick Kyrgios, of Australia, at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament, Friday, Aug. 18, 2017, in Mason, Ohio. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

John Minchillo/Associated Press

Tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Karolina Pliskova are the top seeds at the 2017 U.S. Open, but they won't have an easy path to the finals.

The draws were released for the men's and women's brackets, and they each feature intriguing battles starting from the first round. The path for the big names only gets tougher if they are able to advance to the second week.

The U.S. Open account provided a look at the potential quarterfinal matchups in each draw:

US Open Tennis @ usopen
Potential #USOpen QFs by seed: [1]Pliskova - [8]Kuznetsova [4]Svitolina - [6]Kerber - [5]Wozniacki - [3]Muguruza [7]Konta - [2]Halep

US Open Tennis @ usopen
Potential #USOpen QFs by seed Top [1] Nadal - [7] Dimitrov [3] Federer - [6] Thiem Bottom [5] Cilic - [4] AZverev [8] Tsonga - [2] Murray

The full draw is available at USOpen.org.

Full Draws

Ben Rothenberg @ BenRothenberg
Complete 2017 #USOpen men's draw: https://t.co/uccMZaO4fi

Ben Rothenberg @ BenRothenberg
Full 2017 #USOpen women's draw: https://t.co/1JulvBabYy

Men's Seeds

1. Rafael Nadal
2. Andy Murray
3. Roger Federer
4. Alexander Zverev
5. Marin Cilic
6. Dominic Thiem
7. Grigor Dimitrov
8. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
9. David Goffin
10. John Isner
11. Roberto Bautista Agut
12. Pablo Carreno Busta
13. Jack Sock
14. Nick Kyrgios
15. Tomas Berdych
16. Lucas Pouille
17. Sam Querrey
18. Gael Monfils
19. Gilles Muller
20. Albert Ramos-Vinolas
21. David Ferrer
22. Fabio Fognini
23. Mischa Zverev
24. Juan Martin del Potro
25. Karen Khachanov
26. Richard Gasquet
27. Pablo Cuevas
28. Kevin Anderson
29. Diego Schwartzman
30. Adrian Mannarino
31. Feliciano Lopez
32. Robin Haase

Women's Seeds

1. Karolina Pliskova
2. Simona Halep
3. Garbine Muguruza
4. Elina Svitolina
5. Caroline Wozniacki
6. Angelique Kerber
7. Johanna Konta
8. Svetlana Kuznetsova
9. Venus Williams
10. Agnieszka Radwanska
11. Dominika Cibulkova
12. Jelena Ostapenko
13. Petra Kvitova
14. Kristina Mladenovic
15. Madison Keys
16. Anastasija Sevastova
17. Elena Vesnina
18. Caroline Garcia
19. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
20. CoCo Vandeweghe
21. Ana Konjuh
22. Shuai Peng
23. Barbora Strycova
24. Kiki Bertens
25. Daria Gavrilova
26. Anett Kontaveit
27. Shuai Zhang
28. Lesia Tsurenko
29. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni
30. Julia Goerges
31. Magdalena Rybarikova
32. Lauren Davis

Draw Analysis

Maria Sharapova Gets Harsh Return

Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

There are plenty of notable matches in the first round in each draw, including CoCoVandeweghe against Alison Riske, Gael Monfils versus Jeremy Chardy and Roger Federer taking on Frances Tiafoe. However, the biggest first-round battle will clearly be Maria Sharapova against No. 2 seed Simona Halep.

Sharapova is a five-time Grand Slam winner, but she is coming off a 15-month suspension for a failed drug test. While she has a few tournaments under her belt since her return, she has missed the last six major tournaments.

Her reintroduction to the spotlight comes against Halep, the No. 2 player in the world. She is in excellent form with a finals appearance in her last tournament in Cincinnati, and she has as good of a chance as anyone of bringing home the U.S. Open title.

With that said, Chris Goldsmith noted why the Russian should have confidence going into Round 1:

Chris Goldsmith @ TheTennisTalker
Maria Sharapova has a 6-0 H2H record against Simona Halep........ only ever lost 3 sets and 4-0 on hardcourts

Whatever happens, it will be an interesting battle.

Nothing Easy for Nadal

Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have renewed their rivalry this season with the pair combining for wins in all three Grand Slams so far. However, we won't get a final between these two as both ended up on the same side of the bracket.

If they do face each other, it will be in the semifinals. Interestingly, though, the veterans have never gone head-to-head at the U.S. Open in their careers, so this potential match could be exciting.

Still, reaching this point won't necessarily be easy.

Reem Abulleil of Sport360.com noted the difficult draw in the quarterfinals for Nadal:

Reem Abulleil @ ReemAbulleil
Nadal shares a quarter with Dimitrov, Monfils, Goffin, Gasquet, Berdych, Fognini #usopen https://t.co/ZrT3EGz0Gc

Federer, who has already won two Grand Slam titles in 2017, also has a tough path with Dominic Thiem, Roberto Bautista Agut and Nick Kyrgios, but he could once again make a deep run in New York.

Tough Draws for Americans

John Minchillo/Associated Press

Without Serena Williams in the field, the Americans can now go three straight years without a winner at the U.S. Open.

Vandeweghe and Riske face each other in Round 1, knocking out one quality player right away. Venus Williams faces a qualifier in the first round, but Caroline Wozniacki and Garbine Muguruza loom in her quarter of the bracket.

Madison Keys might be best positioned for a deep run, but she has struggled in majors this year, losing in the second round in both the French Open and Wimbledon.

In the men's draw, Sam Querrey could have a tough time with early matchups against Kyrgios and Federer.

Jack Sock and John Isner have a chance to do damage in the same quarter featuring Alexander Zverev and Marin Cilic, but they will need to show more consistency than they have as of late.