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Wimbledon 2016: Serena Williams gets tricky draw

By The Sports Xchange
American Serena Williams reacts in the Women's Singles Final against Spain's Garbine Muguruza on day twelve of the 2015 Wimbledon championships, London on July 11, 2015.Williams won the match 6-4, 6-4. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI.
1 of 4 | American Serena Williams reacts in the Women's Singles Final against Spain's Garbine Muguruza on day twelve of the 2015 Wimbledon championships, London on July 11, 2015.Williams won the match 6-4, 6-4. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI. | License Photo

Defending champion and six-time winner Serena Williams won't have an easy path in the top half of the Wimbledon 2016 draw announced Friday.

The world No. 1 could have a quarterfinal matchup against Roberta Vinci, who upset Williams in the semifinals of the U.S. Open last year and ended her bid for a calendar year sweep of all four major titles.

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French Open winner and second-seeded Garbine Muguruza is in line to play No. 4 Angelique Kerber in the other half of the draw.

Since losing to Vinci at the U.S. Open, Williams has fallen to Kerber in the Australian Open final and to Muguruza in the French Open final. The American is one away from equaling Steffi Graf's Open era record of 22 Grand Slam titles.

Williams also could face third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals.

Potential women's quarterfinals include Williams vs. sixth-seeded Vinci, Radwanska vs. No. 7 Belinda Bencic, Kerber vs. No. 5 Simona Halep and Muguruza vs. No. 8 Venus Williams.

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On the men's side, No. 1 Novak Djokovic could face Roger Federer in the Wimbledon semifinals as he bids for a fifth consecutive major title and the third leg of a calendar year Grand Slam.

Federer, a seven-time Wimbledon champion seeded No. 3, was placed in Djokovic's top half of the draw. Djokovic is a three-time Wimbledon champion who holds all four Grand Slam titles.

Second-seeded Andy Murray got a more favorable draw, with No. 4 Stan Wawrinka placed in the bottom half as his potential semifinal opponent.

Possible men's quarterfinals include Djokovic vs. No. 6 Milos Raonic, Federer vs. No. 5 Kei Nishikori, Wawrinka vs. No. 8 Dominic Thiem and Murray vs. No. 7 Richard Gasquet.

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