According to Thursday's draw, defending champion Novak Djokovic will avoid Federer and Murray until the final while the Williams sisters could meet in the semifinals if Venus could go through the second round challenge from Germany's sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber, who ousted Venus at the Olympics and ended the 19-match winning streak of Serena last week at Cincinnati.

On the men's side, where Spanish star Rafael Nadal is absent because of continuing knee trouble, the draw set up a possible rematch of the Wimbledon and Olympic finals in the semifinals with Murray and Federer in the same half of the draw.

World No. 1 Federer, who won his 17th Grand Slam title by beating Murray in last month's Wimbledon final, won five US Open titles in a row from 2004 to 2008.

Federer, who will start against American Donald Young, could face Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals while Murray, the third seed who beat Federer for Olympic gold earlier this month at Wimbledon, opens against Russian Alex Bogomolov.

Murray could meet French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight.

Serbian second seed Djokovic, who opens against Italy's Paolo Lorenzi, could face Argentina's seventh-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarterfinals and Serb eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic or Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer in the semifinals.

Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, opens against compatriot David Nalbandian and could meet 2003 winner Andy Roddick in the round of 16.

"The draw is something you cannot affect. It's luck really. You try to focus on what's in your power. That's how you play. To think about the semifinals is not the best thing at this moment. There are 128 very motivated players," said Djokovic on Thursday.

On the women's side, seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams lurked as a dangerous unseeded floater and ended up in the same quarter of the draw with Polish second seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the Wimbledon finalist, and her sister Serena.

Russian third seed Maria Sharapova and Belarus top seed Victoria Azarenka went to the opposite half.

Serena, who opens against US rival Coco Vandeweghe in a rematch of last month's Stanford final, might meet Danish eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals.

Top seed Azarenka opens against Russia's Alexandra Panova and could meet defending champion Samantha Stosur of Australia in the quarterfinals.

Stosur begins her title defense against Croatian Petra Martic and would meet a qualifier in round two but could face a fourth-round matchup against China's ninth seed Li Na or three-time US Open winner Kim Clijsters in the Belgian's farewell event.

"The first round of Grand Slams you are always a little nervous for sure," Stosur said. "I'm looking forward to getting out on the court. You have to make sure you don't take anything for granted."

Sharapova, the 2006 US Open champion, opens against Hungary's Melinda Czink and could meet Czech Petra Kvitova in the last eight.

The 2012 U.S. Open will commence Monday in Flushing Meadows.