LI's Noah Rubin draws Argentine pro for U.S. Open main draw debut
Noah Rubin celebrates with the winners trophy after winning the boys' singles final against Stefan Kozlov on Day 13 of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 6, 2014 in London. Credit: Getty Images / Jan Kruger
Long Island amateur Noah Rubin, the 18-year-old from Rockville Centre who will be playing in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, Thursday drew 23-year-old Argentine pro Federico Delbonis for his first-round U.S. Open match.
The tournament commences its 15-day run on Monday.
Delbonis, a 6-3 lefthander who plays with a two-hand backhand, is ranked 66th in the world, though he was ranked as high as 34th earlier this year. With an 18-21 match record this year, Delbonis lost in the first round in each of the 2014 Grand Slams -- the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon.
In his career, Delbonis has won one of four major-tournament matches. He is primarily a clay-court player.
The 5-9 Rubin, winner of this summer's Wimbledon junior title, earned a wild card into the U.S. Open by winning this month's U.S. junior championship in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Top men's seed Novak Djokovic, based on yesterday's draw ceremony, appears to have a more difficult trip through the tournament than does No. 2 Roger Federer. In Djokovic's quarter of the draw are 2012 Open champion Andy Murray, seeded eighth; recent Toronto champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, the No. 9 seed; and big-serving American John Isner, No. 13.
Djokovic, if he makes it to the semifinals, could face either No. 3 Stanislas Wawrinka, the 2014 Australian Open champ from Switzerland, or rising Canadian star Milos Raonic, No. 5.
In Federer's half of the 128-player bracket are No. 6 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, No. 7 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria (sometimes called a "mini-Federer" because of his stylish play), and No. 4 David Ferrer, a grinding competitor who never has beaten Federer in 16 career matches.
In the women's draw, No. 1 Serena Williams has an interesting first-round match against wild card Taylor Townsend, an 18-year-old American who was the world's top-ranked junior player two years ago. And Williams could have a fourth-round match against 2011 Open champ Samantha Stosur of Australia, whom Williams narrowly defeated in last week's Open tuneup in Ohio.
The more difficult half of the women's draw appears to be the one with No. 2 seed Simona Halep of Romania, reigning French Open champ Maria Sharapova, No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and two former No. 1 players, No. 9 Jelena Jankovic and No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki. Venus Williams also is in that half, opposite her sister.
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