NEW YORK - A little of the usual excitement was missing at draw day at Flushing Meadows. It didn’t feel quite the same wondering which of the Top 3 would end up in David Ferrer’s half, rather than Rafael Nadal’s. But that’s the way it has to be in 2012, and the tournament, now that it’s officially in brackets, will slowly take on a life of its own. It’s still the U.S. Open, and winning it still means just as much to every player, no matter who’s missing.

The big early news is that top seed Roger Federer and third seed Andy Murray are scheduled to play each other in the semifinals. If all goes according to form, Novak Djokovic will get Ferrer. With all due respect to the Spaniard, though, the players in his section have to view this as a rare opportunity to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. They don’t come around often these days.

First quarter
Just what Donald Young needed after losing 17 straight: A first-round night match against Roger Federer, in front of the world. A loss would — OK, will — send Young, who reached the fourth round here in 2011, tumbling out of the Top 100.

From there, Federer’s draw to the semis looks straightforward. The first seed he could play would be Fernando Verdasco, and the next would be either Mardy Fish or Gilles Simon. I’d look for Fish, who has had his usual strong summer hard-court season, and who pushed Federer in Cincinnati, to make something of a run.

The top seed on the other side here is Tomas Berdych. He has four career wins over Federer, and nearly beat him in Madrid in May. But the big Czech has been acting a little burned out lately — since the French Open, he’s 3-5, and he went out in the first round at Wimbledon and the Olympics. This might be good news for Sam Querrey, who is near Berdych in the draw. The 27th seed has been surging this summer with help from Brad Gilbert.

Also here: Nicolas Almagro, Nikolay Davydenko, and Florian Mayer, who opens against American Jack Sock

Best names: Jack Sock, Jurgen Zopp, Go Soeda

First-round match to watch: Berdych vs. David Goffin

Sleeper: Querrey

Semifinalist: Federer

Second quarter
If Andy Murray is going to make his Slam breakthrough this time, he’ll earn it. In addition to Federer in the semis, he might also have to go through Milos Raonic in the fourth round and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarters.

First things first, though. Murray starts with Alex Bogomolov, Jr., who beat him in Key Biscayne in March. Don’t expect a repeat of that result; last year Murray lost to Donald Young in Indian Wells and thrashed him here. Also near Murray: big-hitting lefties Feliciano Lopez and Thomaz Bellucci. It’s hard to know where Murray stands at the moment. His summer hard-court season has mostly been a prolonged Wimbledon-Olympics hangover. Whether he’ll retain any of that gold-medal confidence on a different surface in New York remains to be seen.

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Also remaining to be seen: Raonic’s Slam-level chops. He’s become the perennial draw killer who doesn’t kill the draw, but you still get the feeling he’s going to do it sooner or later. He was a couple of points from reaching the semis in Cincy, and he beat Murray in their only meeting, on clay in Barcelona this spring.

Also here: James Blake, who opens against Lukas Lacko of Slovakia. With Marcel Grannollers the highest seed near him, Blake has some daylight in the draw.

Sleeper: Nishikori. He beat Tsonga in Australia, and reached the quarters at the Olympics

Semifinalist: Murray

Third quarter
Call this the land of opportunity: Ferrer is the top seed, Janko Tipsarevic is second. Who could take advantage of a Big 4-less quarter?

There’s Brian Baker, who opens against Jan Hajek and could play Tipsy second. Baker hasn’t exactly been lighting it up lately—he’s 1-5 since Wimbledon and says he’s been putting too much pressure on himself. But he’s performed well at the majors so far this year.

The three players with the best chances of making a surprise run to Super Saturday, though, are John Isner, a quarterfinalist at the Open last year; Richard Gasquet, finalist in Toronto two weeks ago; and Tommy Haas, who is in the middle of a late-career Indian Summer at age 34.