World No. 1 Simona Halep, six-time champion Serena Williams and reigning champion Sloane Stephens are likely among the pre-tournament favorites, but there's no shortage of challengers for the 2018 US Open title.
Here's a look at some past champions, title contenders and rising stars who could make deep runs in New York City.
Past Champions:
Serena Williams – No list of tournament favorites would be complete without Serena Williams. If she’s in a tournament, she must be considered among the small handful of players likely to lift the trophy. Clearly, her results in the US Open Series and North American hard-court swing have not been up to her impossibly lofty standards. But this is also a champion, arguably the greatest champion, who reached the final of Wimbledon less than a year after giving birth to her daughter and recovering from post-delivery complications.
Suffice to say, this six-time US Open champion, and 23-time Grand Slam women’s singles victor, is no ordinary athlete. If she’s able to play herself into the tournament through the first week, she can rise to any challenge, especially with the backing of a hometown crowd. Serena, seeded 17th in New York, begins against Magda Linette of Poland in the first round and could face sister Venus in Round 3. She’s in top seed Simona Halep’s section of the draw and may also need to get through Karolina Pliskova and Sloane Stephens on the road to the final.
Angelique Kerber – The world No. 4 is one of 21 players over the age of 30 in the Top 100 and the only one ranked inside the Top 10. But age is just a number for the German, who comes into the 2018 US Open having reached the quarterfinals or better in the three other majors for the first time in her career. A Wimbledon title in July leaves the left-hander one French Open championship away from the career Grand Slam, and there’s no doubt she’s one of the favorites in Flushing Meadows. She became just the second-ever defending women’s champion to lose in the first round when she crashed out to Naomi Osaka 12 months ago. Don’t expect lightning to strike twice. Kerber begins her quest for the title against Margarita Gasparyan of Russia, could face 2017 finalist Madison Keys in the fourth round and No. 6 Caroline Garcia in the quarters.
Sloane Stephens – The defending champion put ankle surgery firmly in the rear-view mirror last summer, when she came out of nowhere to win her first major title. The surprise victory came on the back of her not having won a Grand Slam match in 14 months and not reaching the quarterfinals of a major in more than four years. Stephens reached the final in Paris this spring, but her journey to the championship match was bookended by first-round losses at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. The 25-year-old toppled a trio of Top-10 players in winning Miami in March, and she was a game away from beating Halep in the Montreal final, just as she was at Roland Garros. In form, she can beat anyone on any given day. A potential showdown against two-time finalist Victoria Azarenka or Daria Gavrilova awaits in the third round should Stephens get past Evgeniya Rodina and a qualifier in the opening two rounds.
Title contenders:
Simona Halep – A year removed from a first-round exit to Maria Sharapova, Halep comes into New York not only as the world No. 1 for the very first time, but also as a Grand Slam women’s singles champion. With the exception of last year’s opening-round defeat, Halep has played beautiful tennis over the past two years, highlighted by victory at the French Open in May and two other major finals in Melbourne and Paris. Halep was won 19 of her past 21 matches, including a run to the championship at the Rogers Cup in Montreal in her first hard-court tournament since Wimbledon. She opens her 2018 campaign against Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, in a match she should win comfortably. But her quarter of the draw is stacked, with the Williams sisters, two-time Grand Slam singles champion Garbiñe Muguruza and former US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova all looming in the Romanian’s section.
Caroline Wozniacki – Wozniacki’s game is perfectly suited for New York City’s hard courts, where she reached the final in 2009 and 2014 and advanced to three other semifinals. A second-round loss here in 2017 was her worst result at a major since Wimbledon the previous summer, but a maiden Slam title at the Australian Open in January proved she still has bona fide big-match chops. Wozniacki is the No. 2 seed this year, but with the exception of a win over world No. 1 in Melbourne, she’s played just one Top-10 player this year. It’s likely that will be challenged if she has ambitions of a deep second-week run in Flushing Meadows. Wozniacki has a marquee first-round match against 2011 US Open winner Sam Stosur and could face world No. 5 and two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova in the quarters. Wozniacki’s health could also be a factor – she retired in her last match in Cincinnati – but she has been practicing freely this week in New York.
Caroline Garcia – Since going pro a decade ago, Garcia has finished each season at a higher ranking than the previous year. Now ranked No. 6 in the world, she’s running out of room at the summit. On paper, her Grand Slam resume is lacking – one major quarterfinal in eight years – but she reached the fourth round in Melbourne this year, back-to-back quarterfinals in Doha and Dubai and the Round of 16 at Indian Wells, all on her second-favorite surface. You always like Garcia’s chances more on clay, but wins over the likes of Halep, Elina Svitolina, Wozniacki, Sharapova, Kerber and Petra Kvitova on hard courts in the past year is a testament to her all-court prowess. Garcia has a tough match against former world No. 4 Johanna Konta of Great Britain in the first round in one of the more highly anticipated opening matchups.
Petra Kvitova – Kvitova has produced one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of tennis. The 28-year-old was sidelined for almost the entire first half of 2017 after an attacker slashed tendons and nerves in her left hand in what was called a botched robbery in her Czech Republic home. The former world No. 2 almost dropped out of the Top 32, but she never gave hope of a return to the court. She won the title in St. Petersburg at the start of 2018 and then beat three of the world’s Top 4 players en route to the Doha trophy in the clearest signal of her intent. Titles in Prague, Madrid and Birmingham give her five in a year for the first time since 2011, and there’s no reason the feel-good story can’t continue in the Big Apple. She opens against Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium and may not be tested too heavily until a fourth-round matchup against possibly Daria Kasatkina or Naomi Osaka, two fearless and aggressive young players who aren’t afraid to go for their shots.
Elina Svitolina – The 23-year-old from Ukraine has already won three titles in 2018 (Brisbane, Dubai and Rome) to take her career total to 12. She’s reached at least one major quarterfinal in three of the past four years, and she returns to New York after her best-ever performance here 12 months ago. Svitolina lost to Keys in the fourth round but still qualified for the WTA Finals in Singapore. She lost to Stephens in the Rogers Cup semifinals two weeks ago in one of only two hard-court tuneups, but she’s playing well and could take the next step in New York. Svitolina avoided the biggest names in the top half of the draw, and she should be confident in her chances to reach the quarterfinals. American Sachia Vickery may not be able to make much of a dent in Svitolina’s game, but No. 9 seed Julia Goerges, a possible fourth-round opponent, most certainly could.
Rising Stars:
Naomi Osaka – The highest-ranked player aged 20 or younger inside the Top 100, Osaka comes into New York having reached at least the third round in her past five majors. The world No. 19 stunned defending champion Kerber in the opening round last year before being upset herself by qualifier Kaia Kanepi in Round 3. She won Indian Wells this year for her first professional title, beating Karolina Pliskova and top-seeded Halep in consecutive matches on her road to the title. With her aggressive baseline game, fearless approach and youthful confidence, she’s primed for a big fortnight. Osaka starts her tournament against Laura Siegemund of Germany.
Sofia Kenin – The youngest player in the Top 100, 19-year-old Kenin is already up to No. 65 in the rankings after a string of impressive results, including coming through the qualifying tournaments in Miami and Indian Wells, defeating world No. 6 Garcia en route to the Mallorca semifinals and upsetting Greek rising star Maria Sakkari in the first round of Wimbledon. Six weeks younger than Vera Lapko, the only other teen in the Top 100, Kenin won the USTA Pro Circuit $60K in Berkeley in July and will come into her fourth US Open full of confidence and looking to build on a run to the third round 12 months ago, when she lost to Maria Sharapova inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. Kenin has a pretty good draw for an unseeded player. She faces American lucky loser Madison Brengle in the first round and could face either No. 32 seed Sakkari or wild card Asia Muhammad in Round 2.
Daria Kasatkina – Russian 21-year-old Kasatkina is on the cusp of breaking into the Top 10 for the first time in her career. Once she arrives, it may be a long time before she leaves. A former Roland Garros girls’ champion, Kasatkina posted her best Grand Slam singles result earlier this spring with a run to the quarterfinals in Paris that saw her dispatch second-seeded Wozniacki in the fourth round. While she’s most comfortable on the clay, underestimate her hard-court game at your peril. She beat four Grand Slam champions in a row – Stephens, Wozniacki, Kerber and Venus Williams – in Indian Wells in March to cap off a strong start to the season, which also saw her reach the Dubai final and the St. Petersburg semis. Kasatkina, seeded No. 11, faces Timea Babos of Hungary in Round 1 and potentially Osaka in Round 3.
Viktoria Kuzmova – Another one of the talented 20-year-olds quickly shooting up the ranks, Kuzmova is no stranger to success in New York. She won the girls’ doubles title here in 2015 and then reached the final of the girls’ singles the following year. She defeated rising Canadian Francoise Abanda to reach the US Open main draw in 2017, pushing Venus Williams to three sets in the first round. Williams praised Kuzmova, who was playing in her first WTA Tour-level match, saying, “She played amazing. She played well, served well, competed well. Definitely a match I had to earn.” Kuzmova has one of the hardest first-round matches possible, drawing two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.
