My question is to ask how the scheduling for the WTFs is done. I understand the grouping. There is Group A and Group B with the following properties: seed 1 is assigned A or B uniformly at random (50-50 probability), and seed 2 goes in the other; repeat this for pairs (3,4), (5,6) and (7,8). However, how are the matches scheduled?
Specifically, is the case that, in each of the groups, the first match the top player plays is against the bottom, and the two middle play each other. Looking through the history, I see that since 2009 this has been the case since 2009 (at least), with the exception of 2013 (when seed 5 played 7 to open up).
It's possible that there was some reason for it not happening this one year, or maybe it's just that 8 out of 9 years this has happened! (Note that it happened in both groups for all years except for 2013, and neither group in 2013.)
Does anyone have any evidence to suggest what the answer to this is? I'm not interested in unfounded hypotheses, but actual evidence, such as "too unlikely" on a small sample. (For example, at one point Djokovic was drawn in the same half as Federer in 17 out of 21 grand slams -- but these are done randomly, this was just an exceptional event.)