Emma Raducanu will face the retiring Serena Williams for the first time in the opening round at the Western and Southern Open next week.
The upcoming hard-court tournament in Cincinnati, which begins on Monday, acts as a key warm-up for the British No1 as she prepares to defend her US Open title won in fairytale fashion against fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez last year.
Raducanu faces a tough test in the opening round against Williams, with the draw for both the men’s and women’s singles competitions made overnight on Friday.
Either former world No1 Victoria Azarenka or Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi will await the winner in round two.
Serena announced earlier this week in an article for Vogue that she was set to retire from tennis after the US Open, which she last won for the sixth time in 2014, revealing that the “countdown had begun” and that she would be “evolving away from tennis” after an illustrious career at the top.
The 40-year-old remains in pursuit of the elusive 24th Grand Slam singles title that would see her finally draw level with Margaret Court, having been stunned by Harmony Tan in an epic first-round match on her return from almost a year out injured at Wimbledon earlier this summer.
Since then, Williams edged past Nuria Parrizas Diaz at the National Bank Open before falling to 12th seed Belinda Bencic in the second round.
Raducanu only made it one round further at Wimbledon and was dumped out immediately in Toronto by defending champion Camila Giorgi, having previously beaten Louisa Chirico and Camila Osorio before losing to Liudmila Samsonova in the quarter-finals of the Citi Open in Washington.
