New York, NY, USA, 27 August 2016 | AAP/tennis.com.au

Former champion Sam Stosur, seeded 16, has drawn the ever-dangerous Camilla Giorgi of Italy in the opening round of the US Open.

Should Stosur get past the streaky big-hitter – whom she has never before faced – she could face a battle against compatriot Ellen Perez.

Perez, a 20-year-old from Wollongong who was awarded a wildcard after winning a play-off among Aussie women in Florida, meets Shuai Zhang of China.

Looming for Stosur in round three is 23rd seed Daria Kasatkina, the Russian young gun who just recently beat the Aussie in the second round in Montreal.

If she successfully navigates those tricky obstacles, Stosur could later face a fourth-round showdown with Serena Williams, who she beat in the 2011 US Open final to win her first Grand Slam singles title.

> US Open women’s singles draw

Meanwhile, Daria Gavrilova has also been handed a tough draw.

Gavrilova will face 2015 French Open finalist Lucie Safarova in the first round, before a potential second-round encounter with Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep.

Halep beat Gavrilova in straight sets at both major US Open tune-up events this year, in Montreal and Cincinnati, and leads their head-to-head series 3-1.

All three Aussie women have landed in the first quarter of the draw, bookended by Williams and Halep.