2017 US Open predictions

The year's last major will be defined as much by its absences as its participants. Five of the top 11 men's seeds, including three of the past five US Open champs, are sidelined. Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka are out on the women's side. The door is wide open. The only question now is, who walks through it? theScore's esteemed tennis writers, Joe Wolfond and Michael Chandler, are here to help handicap the action at Flushing Meadows.

Here are our predictions for the US Open:

Men's champ

Chandler: Roger Federer

This one's wide open. Federer and Rafa Nadal underwhelmed in Montreal, and the latter doubled down on that display by bowing out to Nick Kyrgios in the quarters in Cincinnati. Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, and Kei Nishikori are all sitting out, meaning the 2017 installment could see a first-time winner like Sascha Zverev. But the 20-year-old headbanded heartthrob from Hamburg has failed to progress beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam. Putting faith in interminable quality, Federer gets the nervous nod.

Wolfond: Alexander Zverev

Hard to believe that a twiggy 20-year-old who's never reached a major quarterfinal could be the safest pick in a Slam field, but here we are. He still has to prove he can maintain his level in the best-of-five format (he's 3-4 lifetime in five-setters, and has lost his last two after leading both 2-1), but he's the best bet here, if for no other reason than his side of the draw is an absolute mess.

While Federer, Nadal, Nick Kyrgios, Grigor Dimitrov, Juan Martin del Potro, Gael Monfils, and Dominic Thiem duke it out in the top half, Zverev will have the bottom half practically to himself, with his biggest potential roadblocks coming in the form of an ailing Marin Cilic, slumping Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and a scad of inconsistent servebots like John Isner, Sam Querrey, and Kevin Anderson. The boy king is ready for his coronation.

Women's champ

Wolfond: Elina Svitolina

She's won a tour-leading five titles this season, has yet to lose a final, is 10-3 against top-10 players, and has dominated on hard courts. On balance, Svitolina has been the best women's player in 2017, it just hasn't been reflected at the Slams. But much like Karolina Pliskova did in New York last year, it feels like the 22-year-old Ukranian is ready for the major breakout she's been building towards for months. Her draw is pretty rough - she could get Daria Gavrilova in the third round, Madison Keys in the fourth, Jelena Ostapenko or Angie Kerber in the quarters, and Pliskova in the semis - but if anyone's proven she can raise her level to match her opponents, it's Svitolina.

Chandler: Garbine Muguruza

Hard not to go rock chalk with Muguruza here. The rangy Spaniard has never made it past the second round of the US Open, but her Wimbledon win and confident showing in Cincinnati are enough to peg the two-time Slam victor as Serena Williams' de facto stand-in.

Men's runner-up

Chandler: Alexander Zverev

It'll be a breakthrough Grand Slam for the aggressive righty, but a win this time around appears one step too far as the outcome in Montreal is flipped in a tense five-set finale with Federer.

Wolfond: Roger Federer

Injuries and withdrawals may have swept a lot of landmines out of the way, but that doesn't mean Federer is in the clear. We still don't know how his back will hold up after he tweaked it in Montreal, and, as mentioned above, his half of the draw is still littered with dangers. He may have to go through Nadal in the semis. If he does manage to emerge unscathed, expect him to run out of gas in the final against a player 16 years his junior.

Women's runner-up

Wolfond: Garbine Muguruza

Muguruza certainly looks ready to conquer her US Open demons. She's never escaped the second round in Flushing Meadows, but she's in the midst of the best and most consistent stretch of her career, and riding a tidal wave of momentum from a monster summer. Like Svitolina, she'll have a difficult road, with Venus Williams, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, and a handful of dangerous floaters (Magdalena Rybarikova, Alize Cornet, Camila Giorgi, Monica Puig, Ekaterina Makarova) lurking in her quarter. But Muguruza looked near untouchable in Cincinnati, and she's still the player to beat.

Chandler: Angelique Kerber

Taking a flyer on the defending champ here, and after dire displays in Toronto and Cincinnati, it qualifies as a risky pick. A stirring semifinal against No. 1 seed and last year's runner-up Pliskova will set the table for a straight-set defeat at the hands of Muguruza. Or, Kerber could lose in the first-round to Naomi Osaka. Who knows?

Men's dark horse

Chandler: Denis Shapovalov

Seems too obvious, but Shapovalov's case is an easy one to make after he bounced Del Potro and Nadal en route to the semis in Montreal. With Murray pulling out, his quarter of the draw is wide open, and if things go his way, a quarterfinal soiree with Cilic could come at the right time for the talented teen.

Wolfond: Juan Martin del Potro

It's quietly been a really disappointing season for Del Potro, but damned if he doesn't have an opening in Flushing Meadows, site of his greatest Grand Slam successes and a truly inspiring run last year. His eighth of the draw is headlined by Thiem, whose mega-topspin, deep-baselining stuff has never really played on hard courts. Del Potro will get 94th-ranked Henri Laaksonen to start, followed by either a qualifier or a wild card in Round 2, and then a likely meeting with a beatable Roberto Bautista Agut. He could well find himself in a quarterfinal clash with Federer, and if the Swiss maestro isn't 100 percent, well, why not Delpo?

Women's dark horse

Wolfond: Madison Keys

Keys is perhaps a dark horse in seed only, having recently recovered her health and her form after early-season wrist surgery put her behind the eight ball. Now she's back to her free-swinging, ball-bashing best, and coming off her first career WTA title in Stanford, where she beat Muguruza in straights along the way. A potential fourth-round matchup against Svitolina looms large, and could determine who emerges from the top half of the draw.

Chandler: Sloane Stephens

Fit again after foot surgery, the 24-year-old American has some big-name bounties under her belt in 2017, and will send Johanna Konta packing in the fourth round to the delight of a partisan crowd.

Bold prediction

Chandler: Sharapova takes down Halep

Halep's Slam struggles continue with a first-round exit to unknown qualifier Maria Sharapova. Hard not to feel for the perpetual bridesmaid Halep, who, despite being regularly ranked in the top three, has advanced to just two Slam finals, at the French Open in 2014 and 2017. The first of those was a three-set defeat to none another than Sharapova.

Wolfond: Osaka bounces Kerber in Round 1

Though there've been brief flashes of the player she was last year, Kerber just hasn't been able to get her season on track, and against a first-round opponent who can absolutely blister the ball, the reigning champ is ripe for an upset. Osaka has found a nice groove after a mid-season skid, playing Venus Williams to two very tough sets in the third round at Wimbledon, and pushing Pliskova to a third in Toronto before being forced to retire. The big-hitting 19-year-old is still without a top-10 victory in her young career, but she could score one here.

Match we most want to see

Wolfond: Rafa Nadal vs. Fabio Fognini, Round of 16

Matches between Nadal and Fognini always tend to produce weird, wild stuff, and the sport doesn't get much weirder or wilder than in the delirious five-set epic the two played on Arthur Ashe two years ago. If the tennis gods are good, Fognini will make it past Tomas Berdych in the third round and give us a worthy sequel.

Chandler: Sharapova vs. Halep, Round 1

No need for wishful thinking here, as this matchup is already set. The two have played on six prior occasions, and Sharapova has won all six, including four clashes on hard courts. (Honorable mention: American teen Frances Tiafoe's first-round tilt with Federer.)