Editor's note: Marketa Vondrousova withdrew from the 2025 US Open women's singles event on Tuesday evening, citing injury.
This year’s US Open women’s draw kicked off as a three-way showdown, the last three Open title holders (2022 champion Iga Swiatek, 2023 titlist Coco Gauff, 2024 winner Aryna Sabalenka) doubling as the top three seeds. And while it’s been a relatively uneventful ride for Sabalenka, Swiatek has had a few choppy matches and Gauff battled through a high-profile serve overhaul before falling to a resurgent Naomi Osaka in the Round of 16.
What remains as the field has been whittled from 128 to eight is a stunningly accomplished group for a Slam whose recent stock in trade is surprise finishes and newly minted champions. All told, 10 different women have claimed the US Open singles trophy in the last 11 years (only Osaka has managed two titles in that time), six of whom were first-time major winners.
Yet, each of the eight women remaining has reached a Grand Slam singles final, with five of them having claimed major crowns—a quintet that includes both unseeded entrants into this year’s Elite Eight. All of which sets this year’s US Open for a wild ride to the end.
With that, let’s take a look at the final eight challengers for the 2025 women’s crown:
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Aryna Sabalenka
Seed/Rank: 1/1
Next Opponent: Marketa Vondrousova
Best US Open Result: W (2024)
Best Grand Slam Result: W (2023-24 Australian Open, 2024 US Open)
Sets Won/Lost: 8-0
Time Spent on Court: 5 hours, 49 minutes
Sabalenka couldn’t have scripted a better first week for her US Open title defense. She has yet to lose a set—only she and Jessica Pegula can boast that among the women—has been tested nominally but not seriously and has wrapped up her four matches in a shade under six hours. It has been another outstanding season for the world No. 1, but for all her successes in 2025, Sabalenka has yet to prevail in the biggest match at the biggest tournaments, falling in the final in Melbourne and Roland Garros and the semifinals in Wimbledon. Her next step in rewriting that narrative commences Tuesday night against the unseeded but formidable Marketa Vondrousova, who has clipped Sabalenka four times in their nine head-to-head matchups, including two of three over the last two years.
Iga Swiatek
Seed/Rank: 2/2
Next Opponent: No. 8 Amanda Anisimova
Best US Open Result: W (2022)
Best Grand Slam Result: W (2020 French Open, 2022-24 French Open, 2022 US Open, 2025 Wimbledon)
Sets Won/Lost: 8-1
Time Spent on Court: 6:06
Swiatek is quietly enjoying her best-ever Grand Slam season—no small feat for the best player in women’s tennis over the past four years—having reached the semifinals at this year’s Australian Open and French Open before claiming her first Wimbledon title earlier this summer. As a result, the Pole has the opportunity once again to wrest the world No. 1 ranking from her rival Sabalenka with a strong performance this Flushing fortnight. She’s certainly off to a good start, sandwiching a pair of easy victories around two more challenging ones. The end result, though, is palatable: Swiatek has lost just one set and has spent just a shade over six hours on court, meaning she should have plenty left in the tank for the stretch run.
Jessica Pegula
Seed/Rank: 4/4
Next Opponent: Barbora Krejcikova
Best US Open Result: F (2024)
Best Grand Slam Result: F (2024 US Open), QF (2021-23 Australian Open, 2022 French Open, 2022 US Open, 2023 Wimbledon, 2025 US Open)
Sets Won/Lost: 8-0
Time Spent on Court: 4:50
Pegula entered the Open playing desultory tennis, posting just a 2-3 record on hard courts this summer and suffering premature exits in the Round of 32 in both Montreal (to Anastasija Sevastova) and Cincinnati (to Magda Linette). But she has been re-energized since setting foot in Flushing, regaining the fine form that carried her to a maiden Grand Slam singles final a year ago. Pegula is into the final eight having lost just 17 games—the fewest she has surrendered en route to any of her eight major quarterfinal showings. She's spent fewer than one hour, 15 minutes on court in three of her four matches, with only her 97-minute win over Victoria Azarenka running longer. All of which leaves the Buffalo native in great shape for the Open’s final week—particularly compared to her opponent in the quarters, Barbora Krejcikova, who has logged three hours, 13 minutes more time on court through four rounds.
Amanda Anisimova
Seed/Rank: 8/9
Next Opponent: No. 2 Iga Swiatek
Best US Open Result: QF (2025)
Previous Best US Open Result: 3R (2020)
Best Grand Slam Results: F (2025 Wimbledon); SF (2019 French Open)
Sets Won/Lost: 8-1
Time Spent on Court: 5:50
As with her compatriot Pegula, the US Open has marked a welcome return to form for Anisimova, who struggled to a 2-2 summer after her remarkable run to the 2025 Wimbledon final (which she lost to her quarterfinal opponent on Wednesday, Swiatek). It is the continuation of a resurgent year for the talented ball-striker, delivering on the promise she showed during her march to the French Open semis six years ago. This tournament marks Anisimova’s best-ever showing in Flushing Meadows by a significant margin—the newly minted 24-year-old (her birthday was Sunday) lost in the first round in three of her previous five trips—but past precedent hasn’t weighed on many of her results this year, so that is likely not a factor at this stage. The indomitable Swiatek, however, might be, but if Anisimova plays like she did in her 6-0, 6-3 fourth-round victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia (27 winners, 14 unforced errors), all the remaining women should be on notice.
Karolina Muchova
Seed/Rank: 11/13
Next Opponent: No. 23 Naomi Osaka
Best US Open Result: SF (2023, 2024)
Best Grand Slam Result: F (2023 French Open), SF (2021 Australian Open, 2023-24 US Open)
Sets Won/Lost: 8-4
Time Spent on Court: 10:14
Muchova may not be a household name, but her results on the biggest stages are undeniable. She is aiming for a third consecutive US Open women’s singles semifinal and boasts prior runs to the French Open final (2023) and Australian Open semifinals (2021), plus two quarterfinal showings at Wimbledon (2019 and 2021). Injuries have been a recurring issue for the talented Czech—one of three women from Czechia into this year’s US Open quarters, the most ever for the country—but when healthy, she is a threat to topple anyone. Of course, fatigue could be a real factor. Muchova has gone three sets in each of her four matches to date, and her 10-plus hours on court are the most of any woman remaining in the draw—notably, nearly twice as many as her quarterfinal opponent, Osaka.
Naomi Osaka
Seed/Rank: 23/24
Next Opponent: No. 11 Karolina Muchova
Best US Open Result: W (2018, 2020)
Best Grand Slam Result: W (2018, 2020 US Open; 2019, 2021 Australian Open)
Sets Won/Lost: 8-1
Time Spent on Court: 5:21
It has been five years since Osaka competed in a US Open quarterfinal match, and four-and-a-half since she played at this stage in any Grand Slam event (2021 Australian Open). So, logically, questions abound on how Osaka will handle the occasion. What can’t be questioned is her ability (four Grand Slam titles, all on hard courts) or her fortitude. And this summer, she’s displaying the game to match. Osaka won six matches to reach the Montreal final and has carried that momentum to Queens, where she breezed past the talented Hailey Baptiste before upsetting No. 15 Daria Kasatkina and No. 3 Gauff to reach the Round of 8. The victory over Gauff was particularly impressive, with the Japanese standout ousting the home-country favorite in just over an hour. Next up: familiar foe Karolina Muchova. The two have faced off at each of the last two hard-court majors, with Muchova prevailing in two tight sets at last year’s US Open and Osaka turning the tables in three sets earlier this year in Melbourne.
Marketa Vondrousova
Seed/Rank: --/60
Next Opponent: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka
Best US Open Result: QF (2023, 2025)
Best Grand Slam Result: W (2023 Wimbledon); F (2019 French Open)
Sets Won/Lost: 8-1
Time Spent on Court: 6:53
Vondrousova missed the second half of 2024 and much of 2025 with an assortment of injuries that have driven her ranking down into the 60s, but the 26-year-old remains one of the most talented and dangerous players on tour. She’s once again putting it all together at this year’s US Open, backstopping an upset of No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini in the third round with a three-set, fourth-round victory over No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina in a matchup of former Wimbledon champions. The 2023 US Open quarterfinalist and 2021 Olympic silver medalist draws her toughest task yet in the next round: world No. 1 Sabalenka, who topped Vondrousova, 7-5, 6-1, two weeks ago in Cincinnati.
Barbora Krejcikova
Seed/Rank: --/62
Next Opponent: No. 4 Jessica Pegula
Best US Open Result: QF (2021, 2025)
Best Grand Slam Result: W (2021 French Open, 2024 Wimbledon)
Sets Won/Lost: 8-2
Time Spent on Court: 8:03
The most under-the-radar potential Hall of Famer in tennis is at it again, with Krejcikova into her first US Open quarterfinal since her first singles main draw in Flushing Meadows, in 2021. And before you dismiss her chances at this year’s event, remember that Krejcikova was unseeded when she won the 2021 French Open and seeded No. 31 when she won last year’s Wimbledon crown. The oft-injured Czech has not had an easy path to reach this stage, however. After two straightforward victories, she required two-and-a-half hours to upset No. 10 seed Emma Navarro in the third round and saved a staggering eight match points to topple Taylor Townsend in a three-hour marathon in the Round of 16. Her reward? A third straight American in the form of fourth seed Pegula, against whom she has two victories in three career attempts.
