Top-Seeded Serena Leads U.S. Open Women’s Singles Draw
The USTA has announced that world number one and two-time defending champion Serena Williams leads the women’s field for the 2014 U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Serena is joined by 103 of the world’s top 105 women, including reigning French Open and former U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, two-time U.S. Open champion Venus Williams and former U.S. Open champions Samantha Stosur and Svetlana Kuznetsova. In total, 36 different countries are represented in the women’s field. Eleven U.S. women received entry into the main draw – the most of any country – with nine Americans ranked in the Top 50.
The 2014 U.S. Open will be played Aug. 25-Sept. 8 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The U.S. Open Women’s Singles Championship is presented by JPMorgan Chase.
Leading the entry list is world No. 1 Serena, who won her fifth U.S. Open crown in 2013, trying her with Steffi Graf for the second-most U.S. Open women’s singles title in the Open Era, trailing only Chris Evert, with six. Serena has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles overall, which ranks sixth all-time, just one behind Evert and Martina Navratilova (18).
Joining Serena in the field’s top four are world number two Li Na of China, Asia’s first and only Grand Slam champion, who won her second major singles title at the 2014 Australian Open; number three Simona Halep of Romania, a 2014 French Open finalist and Wimbledon semifinalist; and world number four Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who won her second Grand Slam and Wimbledon singles title earlier this month.
Following the top four are number five Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, the first Polish player to reach a Grand Slam singles final (2012 Wimbledon); number six Sharapova of Russia, the 2006 U.S. Open champion who won her fifth Grand Slam singles title this year at the French Open; number seven Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, who reached her first Grand Slam singles final this summer at Wimbledon and also advanced to the semifinals of the French Open and Australian Open this year; number eight Angelique Kerber of Germany, a two-time U.S. Open semifinalist (2011-12); number nine Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, a former world number one and U.S. Open finalist (2008), and number 10 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, a former world number one and two-time Australian Open champion (2012-13) who has been the U.S. Open runner-up to Serena each of the last two years.
Ten players who have won Grand Slam singles titles in their careers are competing in the U.S. Open this year, including former world number one and 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, and 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
France’s Virginie Razzano, ranked 105th in the world, is the last player accepted directly into the women’s field of 128. Two players have withdrawn due to injury, number 82 Alisa Kleybanova of Russia, and number 90 Victoria Duval of the United States, who is undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. One player is using a special ranking to gain entry into the main draw, number 40 Romina Oprandi of Switzerland. Sixteen more players will gain entry through the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament, Aug. 19-22, while the remaining eight spots are wild cards awarded by the USTA.
In addition to Serena, the other American women who received direct entry into this year’s tournament include number 22 Sloane Stephens of Coral Springs, Fla.; number 25 Venus Williams of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; number 27 Madison Keys of Rock Island, Ill.; number 41 Coco Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; number 43 Alison Riske of Pittsburgh; number 44 Lauren Davis of Gates Mills, Ohio; number 49 Varvara Lepchenko of Allentown, Pa.; number 51 Christina McHale of Teaneck, N.J.; number 76 Vania King of Monterey Park, Calif.; and number 104 Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C.
Several of the young Americans listed above have had breakout performances on the WTA tour this year. Keys, 19, and Vandeweghe, 22, each won their first WTA singles titles on the same weekend this June, the first time in 12 years two American women won WTA titles in the same week. Rogers, 21, and McHale, 22, both made their first WTA final appearances, while Davis, 20, advanced to the third round of both Wimbledon and the Australian Open this year.
