NEW YORK CITY, New York — Filipino fans in New York are on edge as they excitedly await their star, Alexandra 'Alex' Eala, begin her campaign for possibly her first Grand Slam title in the last major Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tournament in New York City.

The top seeds are on the leader board with other less prominent players getting ready as the paths are already set. And setting aside the prospects of Eala, who just recovered from a shoulder injury, let's look at the competitors who will battle it out—from the world's best to the hopeful challengers.

In this year's tourney, there is no shortage in high-profile American netters as in Thursday’s New York draw revealed that half of the projected quarterfinalists—No. 3 seed 'Coco' Gauff, No. 4 Jessica Pegula, No. 6 Madison Keys and No. 8 Amanda Anisimova—will be playing a home game in the season’s final Grand Slam.

Tennis fans will expect Gauff and Keys, two of the three major champions already crowned this year, would meet in a sizzling quarterfinal, but the spotlight won’t just fall on the Americans as defending champion Aryna Sabalenka has been drawn into the same quarter as No. 7 Jasmine Paolini to set up an explosive face off while Iga Swiatek, fresh off her Cincinnati title, could see action in a rematch against Anisimova in the Wimbledon final.

In the first quarter, this section includes some of the hottest players. No. 9 Elena Rybakina just reached the semifinals at the Cincinnati Open on a loss to champion Swiatek while No. 14 Clara Tauson, a semifinalist in Montreal, will meet Eala in a first-round match.

No. 24 Veronika Kudermetova, who reached the final four in Cincinnati, is on a collision course for a third-round meeting with Rybakina even as No. 31 Leylah Fernandez, who captured the title at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, could meet Sabalenka in the third round.

Coming up in the second quarter, 18-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, who was No. 85 in the PIF (Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund) WTA Rankings has rocketed into the Top 25 and secured seeding at the US Open. She’s No. 22, but thus doesn't shield her from a precarious position as she will be playing two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova in the first round and could see No. 10 Emma Navarro in the third. In a first-round match, No. 5 Andreeva draws Alycia Parks, who just upset Navarro to reach the quarterfinals in Monterrey, Mexico.

Expected, meanwhile, in the third quarter are two of the three leading active Grand Slam champions, namely 45-year-old wild card Venus Williams, No. 25 Naomi Osaka and wild card Caroline Garcia of France.

Williams has a first-round match against No. 11 Karolina Muchova while Osaka will battle No. 446 Greet Minnen of Belgium and Garcia meets No. 56 Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia.

Finally, in the fourth quarter section, Swiatek, after winning the singles title in Cincinnati, advanced with Casper Ruud to the mixed doubles semifinals on Tuesday. She beat top-seeded Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper in the final four and then fell with Ruud in the final to Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. Swiatek’s path in the singles, though, seems less daunting as she gets a first-round match against Emiliana Arango.
Swiatek could likewise meet two wild cards in 18-year-old Valerie Glozman in the second round and No. 211 Clervie Ngounoue of the United States.

Also tagged as dangerous floaters in this sector are No. 57 Danielle Collins of the US, No. 90 Maria Sakkari of Greece and No. 69 Maya Joint of Australia.