Seven sizzling Round 1 matches to watch at the US Open

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows is the stage primed for action as the world's best tennis players compete in the final grand slam of the year.

Here, usopen.org looks at seven matches worthy of breaking out the popcorn and refreshments...

Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) v Milos Raonic

Since winning his first-ever ATP match towards the end of 2017, Tsitsipas has been one of the most consistent players on tour, and his stellar play on some of the biggest stages is proof of that: In three of the four Grand Slam tournaments, the Greek has made the second week at least twice, including a finals appearance in Roland Garros in 2021 and the Australian Open this past January. Six Masters 1000 Finals appearances (with two victories) and the 2019 ATP Tour Finals triumph also stand out on Tsitsipas' glittering résumé.

However, life in New York has proven to be Tsitsipas' kryptonite... at least on the tennis court. His 5-5 overall record in singles at the US Open could end up taking another hit after a tussle against one-time Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic.

The 32-year-old, big-serving Canadian was sidelined for two full years as he dealt with an assortment of injuries, and was finally able to make his return to the court for competitive action during the grass-court season this past June. After his second-round exit at Wimbledon, Raonic expressed that that match was probably his last appearance at the All England Club, making this the possibility that his duel against Tsitsipas could be his last match at any major. If so, Raonic will be remembered in part for being the first of a generation of talented players who launched Canada into a golden age of tennis in the Great White North that carries on today.

Raonic has gotten the better of Tsitsipas in both meetings, including a straight-sets victory at the 2020 Australian Open in the third round. Raonic has won all five sets against Tsitsipas, and all have taken place on a hard court.

Ugo Humbert (29) v Matteo Berrettini

Berrettini comes into the 2023 US Open unseeded, and it makes sense. The Italian suffered an abdominal injury at the beginning of the clay-court season, and withdrew from the ATP Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome before eventually bowing out from participating at Roland Garros. While the 2021 Wimbledon finalist did reach the fourth round at SW19 in July - defeating Alex de Minaur and Alexander Zverev in the process - Berrettini is still is trying to find the consistency that made the current world No. 36 a mainstay in the Top 10 since the end of 2021.

But unseeded does not mean unheralded. On Wednesday, Berrettini was one of the headliners of the Stars of the Open event preceding the tournament, playing doubles alongside Gabriela Sabatini against Jessica Pegula and John McEnroe inside Louis Armstrong Stadium. His star power is in part because of his matinee idol looks and in part because of his past performances in New York, as Berrettini has reached the second week at the US Open in each of the past three years - including a run to the semifinals in 2019 and appearances in the quarterfinals in 2021 and 2022.

Berrettini won't have an easy time of things in the first round against Frenchman Ugo Humbert, as the two are separated by just five spots in the ATP world rankings. Humbert's current ranking of world No. 31 is even more impressive given that he was ranked outside of the Top 100 as late as recently as January.

However, Humbert has turned it on since the tour came back stateside: He reached the semifinals in Newport and Atlanta before making the quarterfinals of Washington DC, where he had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. The lefty is sure to cause Berrettini fits, especially if Humbert's forehand forces the Italian to play a number of backhand slices and stays away from the Italian's forehand.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (21) v Marcos Giron

Two players who made great runs north of the border earlier this month will square off in a match that may surely have a Davis Cup feel to it. Davidovich Fokina defeated three Top 50 players - J.J. Wolf, Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud - on his way to a Masters 1000 semifinal appearance in Toronto. Though Giron's time in Toronto ended in the round of 16, the former UCLA Bruin made it through two rounds of qualifying before taking out Emil Ruusuvuori and then-world No. 6 Holger Rune in the main draw.

The last time we saw Davidovich Fokina on the Grand Slam stage was during the third round of Wimbledon, when the Spaniard's decision to go with an underarm serve at 8-8 during a fifth-set tiebreak against Rune gloriously backfired, leading Rune to win the point and, eventually, the match.

Will there will be a case of late-drama déjà vu in New York?

Paula Badosa v Venus Williams

Last year, the great Serena Williams had her tennis swansong and called it a career after her 21st US Open.

But we still have Venus.

The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion and two-time women's singles winner in Flushing Meadows will always be one of the main attractions as the now 43-year-old continues her illustrious career into a fourth decade. Any chance to see her, no matter the tournament, is a Kodak (or, a selfie!) moment and nothing to take for granted as only she knows how many more times fans will get a chance to see her perform on the biggest stages. A wild card at the US Open, she'll be making a 24th main-draw appearance next week.

An opening round against Badosa, who's been ranked as high as No. 2, is something straight out of a script writer™s wild imagination. Badosa has not played on tour since having to retire from her second-round match at Wimbledon due to the recurring back injury that had sidelined her since May.

Along with a competitive match between the two, the biggest hope for all watching Williams and Badosa is that both players emerge from the contest, and the tournament, without any new injury concerns.

Daria Kasatkina (13) v Alycia Parks

It's trivia time! There are three American women who are currently ranked in the Top 50 in the world in both singles and doubles. Two of them you could probably figure out before finishing this sentence, with the doubles team of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula being two of those three women who fit the criteria.

The third? It's Atlanta native Parks, who's burst onto the scene in 2023. Parks, who made her professional debut just two years ago, won her maiden WTA Tour title in February, defeating Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia in front of a heavily pro-Garcia crowd in Lyon, France. Her most recent success came last week in Cincinnati, where Parks teamed with Taylor Townsend to knock off four of the world™s Top 10 doubles teams on their way to the title.

Parks' form, plus playing in her home Grand Slam, will be no easy task for Kasatkina to overcome. However, Kasatkina's strong play has spanned a couple of years, and a resurgent 2022 saw her qualify for the WTA Finals for the first time.

Kasatkina made the semifinals in Charleston and the final in Eastbourne this season, and she will be looking to advance to the second week in New York for just the second time in her career (2017).

Ekaterina Alexandrova (22) vs. Leylah Fernandez

Can the maple syrup magic show up once again in New York?

Canada's Fernandez captivated the tennis world in 2021 when the then-18-year-old (she turned 19 during the tournament) made a surprise run to the US Open final before being thwarted by fellow teen Emma Raducanu. Fernandez's singles play has been a mixed bag since that breakout in New York, and defeat in last year's second round in Flushing Meadows caused her world ranking to drop out of the Top 30. On the flip side, the now 20-year-old has become a threat in doubles, evidenced by reaching the Roland Garros final this past spring alongside American Taylor Townsend.

Across the net from the Canadian will be Alexandrova, who made it to the second week of a major for the first time last month when she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon. In fact, Alexandrova has made at least Round 3 in each of the three majors so far this season, and the hard-hitting No. 22 seed in New York also made her second-ever WTA 1000 quarterfinal on the hard courts of Miami this spring.

Beatriz Haddad Maia (19) vs. Sloane Stephens

Stephens, the 2017 US Open singles champion, has worked her way back into the Top 40 of the WTA rankings after finishing at No. 64 at the end of 2021. Since she first stepped foot onto the professional scene, the American has almost always saved her best performances for the biggest stages.

Haddad Maia is a trailblazer, with a magical run to the semifinals at Roland Garros this spring resulting in her Top 10 debut: the first Brazilian woman to become a Top 10 player since the creation of the rankings system in 1975. She then recovered from a knee injury suffered during the start of the grass-court season to make a run to the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Despite those successes, Haddad Maia has won only one singles match in her career at the US Open, compared to Stephens' 24.

READ MORE: US Open - Ten players to watch at Flushing Meadows