Andy Murray of Great Britain will face 19^th seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the second round of the US Open on Thursday, August 31. 

The winner of this match will face the winner of the all-German clash between No.12 seed Alexander Zverev and Daniel Altmaier in the third round. 

Remarkably, this will be their first meeting in nearly seven years as Andy Murray last defeated Grigor Dimitrov in the China Open final in 2016. With all of their past meetings between 2011 and 2016, Andy Murray will hope to continue his superiority over Dimitrov. 

The 2012 champion holds a 8-3 lead in their head to head series but the Bulgarian will be inspired on the back of a historic first-round victory. 

All but one of their previous 11 meetings were on hard-courts, with Grigor Dimitrov winning their only match on grass - a memorable win in the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2014. With that said, Murray has been doing quite well against Dimitrov (including a comfortable 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the US Open last-16 in 2016). 

However, their past meetings were in a different era when the Scotsman was one of the “Big Four” in men's tennis, alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, while Dimitrov was tipped to succeed them. 

Enjoying a late-career kind of resurgence, Andy Murray will be keen to reach the US Open third round for a second year in a row. He lost 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 3-6 to Matteo Berrettini of Italy twelve months ago. Still, it was his best US Open performance since 2016, when Murray reached the quarter-finals. 

The Scottish veteran enjoyed a promising start to his Toronto Masters campaign earlier this month when Murray claimed back-to-back wins over Lorenzo Sonego of Italy (7-6, 6-0) and Max Purcell of Australia (7-6, 3-6, 7-5) but was, unfortunately, forced to withdraw ahead of his last-16 tie against eventual champion Jannik Sinner due to an abdominal strain. 

As a result, the 36-years-old Murray had also been forced to withdraw from the Cincinnati Masters 1000 event as he aimed to be fully fit for the US Open. 

Andy Murray returned to action when he defeated Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round at Flushing Meadows despite a controversial incident involving the video-assist review system. 

It looked like Grigor Dimitrov might actually achieve something big at this year's Wimbledon as the former No. 3 won his first three matches in straight sets, in a really convincing manner. However, the Bulgarian was unable to outlast Holger Rune of Denmark in the last-16 as he lost in four sets. 

After a short break, Dimitrov began his North American hard-court swing at the Washington Open where he reached the semi-finals, but ultimately lost in straight sets to Great Britain's Dan Evans, who went on to win the title. 

Dimitrov also competed at the Cincinnati Masters but it was a tournament he will want to forget as soon as possible. The Bulgarian suffered a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Alexander Zverev in the first round. 

Back on track, Grigor Dimitrov claimed a remarkable five-set victory over Alex Molcan of Slovakia in the US Open first round. The Bulgarian saved three match points to eventually complete an impressive 6-7(9), 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(9) victory in what was his first comeback from two sets to love down in his career.

This comeback comes four years after Dimitrov rallied from a two-sets-to-one deficit, stunning five-time winner Roger Federer 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the semifinals - his best US Open performance so far.

Now, Dimitrov will be eager to avoid a fourth consecutive second-round exit at Flushing Meadows and the 32-year-old Bulgarian will have to overcome his struggles against Andy Murray. 

Interestingly, Grigor Dimitrov claimed his only victory over Spanish great Rafael Nadal en route to his China Open final against Andy Murray. 

Grigor Dimitrov and Andy Murray practiced together before the US Open, with the Bulgarian seemingly bothered by a knee issue, while Murray was recovering from an abdominal strain.

Moreover, adding to the intrigue, Dani Vallverdu, who coached Andy Murray during his US Open triumph in 2012, is back in Dimitrov's corner and was on hand for his comeback against Molcan. 

The 2012 US Open champion will hope to build on his strong head-to-head record against Dimitrov, yet we expect a tight, unpredictable clash between two skilled, experienced players.