Andy Murray begins quest for second US Open title at Flushing Meadows against Lukas Rosol

Andy Murray will meet Lukas Rosol in the first round of the US Open next week. The 2012 champion arrives at New York's Flushing Meadows for the final grand slam tournament of the year, having backed up his second Wimbledon triumph in July by beating Juan Martin del Potro to retain his Olympic singles title.

Tall Czech right-hander Rosol, who reached the quarter-finals of last year's French Open alongside men's doubles partner Radu Albot, is currently ranked at 82 by the ATP and was beaten by Benoit Paire in Rio de Janeiro before failing to qualify for the Cincinnati Masters. He has lost both previous tour meetings against Murray, at Indian Wells and the 2015 BMW Open in Munich, the latter of which was a heated contest and memorable for the world number two telling his opponent that "no-one likes you on the tour, everyone hates you".

The world number two's projected route through to another potential final clash with Novak Djokovic includes possible ties against Juan Monaco/Marcel Granollers, Gilles Simon, Feliciano Lopez, Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka.

Elsewhere in Friday's draw, Johanna Konta, seeded a career-high 13th, was handed an opening tie against doubles specialist Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Kyle Edmund and Aljaz Bedene face tough matches against top-10 regular Richard Gasquet and volatile Australian Nick Kyrgios respectively. Dan Evans, meanwhile, will play wildcard Rajeev Ram. The American partnered Venus Williams to a silver medal in the Olympic mixed doubles earlier this month following a three-set loss to compatriots Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock.

Heather Watson and Naomi Broady will meet two as-yet-unknown qualifiers, who will be decided later on this evening (26 August). Fellow Briton Laura Robson now stands just one win away from the main draw after victories over Su Jeong Jang and Isabella Shinikova. She plays Tatjana Maria of Germany next. Tara Moore and James Ward saw their qualification hopes dashed by Antonia Lottner and Maximo Gonzalez.

Defending champion Djokovic is in the same half of the draw as Rafael Nadal and will face Jerzy Janowicz first. Six-time winner Serena Williams begins her quest to avenge last year's semi-final defeat to Roberta Vinci – a failure that cost her the chance of completing a calendar grand slam – against Ekaterina Makarova. Wawrinka meets Fernando Verdasco, Nadal takes on Denis Istomin, Milos Raonic is paired with Dustin Brown and Nishikori goes up against Benjamin Becker. Marin Cilic, US Open winner two years ago, starts against Rogerio Dutra Silva.

Roger Federer will miss the US Open and indeed the remaining months of the 2016 season having announced, after his first Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Raonic, that he needs to commit to more extensive rehabilitation after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in February to correct a torn meniscus. The Swiss, aiming to return in Melbourne next year, also missed this year's French Open due to a lingering back injury – the first time he has been absent from a grand slam since 2000.