Becker Draws Aguilera in Open

Defending champion Boris Becker, who has not won a Grand Slam event this year, will follow a difficult road to defend his U.S. Open title.

The year’s final Grand Slam tournament will begin Monday at the National Tennis Center in New York. Becker faces Juan Aguilera of Spain in the first round as a result of the draw made Thursday. Aguilera defeated Becker this spring in a clay-court event at Hamburg, West Germany.

There may be further problems for Becker. He has a potential second-round match against Yannick Noah of France and in the third round could play the Netherlands’ Paul Haarhuis, who defeated fourth-seeded John McEnroe last year.

A possible fourth-round test for Becker could come from West German Davis Cup teammate Carl-Uwe Steeb or 15th-seeded Yugoslav Goran Ivanisevic, who beat Becker in the French Open.

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg plays Soviet Alexander Volkov in the first round and could later meet McEnroe or Jimmy Connors.

Steffi Graf, seeded No. 1 in defense of her title, opens with a qualifier but could face 13th-seeded Jennifer Capriati in the fourth round. Capriati’s opener is against Anke Huber of West Germany.

Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova, seeded second, plays Federica Haumuller of Argentina in the first round, and third-seeded Monica Seles, the French Open champion, meets Elena Pampoulova of Bulgaria.