Washington Open draw: Rafael Nadal, Cameron Norrie, Nick Kyrgios in same half as young stars headline bottom half

ATP Tour
A smiling Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal will make his Washington Open debut on Wednesday and the 20-time Grand Slam winner finds himself in the same half of the draw as the likes of Cameron Norrie, Nick Kyrgios, Grigor Dimitrov and Dan Evans.

Having withdrawn from Wimbledon and the Olympics, world No 3 Nadal is set to play in his first competitive event since losing the French Open semi-final against Novak Djokovic in mid June.

The top-seeded Spaniard, who has a bye into the second round, will kick off his campaign against either American wildcard Jack Sock or Yoshihita Nishioka from Japan.

“I am very excited to come to Washington for the first time,” Nadal said. “I have never been there, and it’s one more place I wanted to come and play. I am looking forward to playing again, and Washington shall be the best start for the US summer swing for me.”

Seventh seed Norrie is also in the same quarter and the British No 2 takes on either a lucky loser or Marcos Giron in the second round.

Fourth seed Dimitrov is the highest-ranked player in Section 2 of the Washington Open draw, but there are plenty of dangers lurking as the Bulgarian could face either 13th seed Benoit Paire or Australian Kyrgios in the third round while sixth seed Evans could be a quarter-final opponent.

Second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime headlines the bottom half that contains several exciting young talents.

The Canadian will face either Italian Andreas Seppi or a lucky loser/qualifier in the second round while 16th seed Frances Tiafoe could await in the third round.

Section 3 contains third seed Alex de Minaur, fifth seed Jannik Sinner and 12th seed Sebastian Korda.

Italian Sinner and Korda from the United States could meet in the third round with Australian De Minaur a possible quarter-final opponent while that winner could potentially take on Auger-Aliassime in the semi-final.

Cameron Norrie Nick Kyrgios Rafael Nadal

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