Felix Auger-Aliassime could face a tricky early test in his bid to make a deep run at the US Open.
The Canadian, seeded third in men's singles, will face world No. 85 Rinky Hijikata of Australia in the first round of the season's final Grand Slam. The draw was revealed Thursday.
A second-round match could loom against Russia's Karen Khachanov, a former top-10 player who has dropped to No. 49 in the rankings.
Other top names in Auger-Aliassime's quarter of the draw include No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz of the U.S. and No. 5 Flavio Cobolli of Italy.
Auger-Aliassime reached the semifinals of the US Open last year before losing to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who is out this year because of injury.
World No. 47 Denis Shapovalov, the only other Canadian guaranteed to be in the men's singles draw, will face world No. 64 Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round. Shapovalov is 5-0 for his career against the Serbian.
On the women's side, No. 31 seed Leylah Fernandez is the lone Canadian guaranteed to be in the field. She'll face world No. 53 Zhang Shuai of China in the first round.
Canadians Carson Branstine, Bianca Andreescu and Liam Draxl were playing in the final round of qualifying on Thursday.
The main draw starts Sunday.
