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The year’s final Grand Slam tournament is just around the corner and while Serena Williams remains the favourite to salute at her national championships for a third consecutive year, there will be other contenders desperate to stop her in her tracks in New York.
The likes of Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Maria Sharapova are expected to be Williams’ main rivals for the US Open, which the American will hope to win for a sixth time.
Despite her indifferent form this year, can Williams can be stopped? Her recent title victory in Cincinnati might have sent a chill through the spine of her other contenders.
Let’s now take a look at who I expect will contend for this year’s US Open title.
Serena Williams
Current world ranking: 1
Grand Slam results this year to date:
Australian Open: Fourth round
French Open: Second round
Wimbledon: Third round
Titles won this year to date: Brisbane, Miami, Rome, Stanford, Cincinnati
US Open history
Best result: Won (1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013)
Last year’s result: Won
After winning eleven titles and banking over $12 million in prize money last year, world number one Serena Williams has been below her usual best in 2014, failing to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final this year and only accumulating six titles (as opposed to the eight she had by this time last year).
However, it’s traditional that at this time of the year she saves her best form for the US hardcourts, where she is undefeated in 2014 including titles in Miami, Stanford and Cincinnati.
Her title wins at the latter two events, which came at the expense of Angelique Kerber and Ana Ivanovic, respectively, came on either side of a semi-final loss to older sister Venus at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
The American has simply been unstoppable in New York in the last two years, only losing two sets on her way to two titles, both times to Victoria Azarenka in each of the last two finals.
Therefore, the bright lights of Flushing Meadows provides the best chance for Williams to reverse her current woes at Grand Slam level. If she were to lose early in New York, then this would mark the first year since 1998 that she has played all four Grand Slam tournaments in one calendar year and failed to reach the quarter-finals at either.
The stage is set, so can Serena Williams claim Grand Slam title number eighteen and pull herself ahead of Roger Federer?
Prediction: Champion
Simona Halep
Current world ranking: 2
Grand Slam results this year to date:
Australian Open: Quarter-finals
French Open: Runner-up
Wimbledon: Semi-finals
Titles won this year to date: Doha, Bucharest
US Open history
Best result: Fourth round (2013)
Last year’s result: Fourth round
Fifteen months ago, almost no-one knew who Simona Halep was. But a run to the semi-finals in Rome as a qualifier then ranked outside the top 50 would set the precedence for a stunning rise up the rankings that sees her now ranked second in the world only behind Serena Williams.
After making the rise up last year thanks to six titles, this year she has added another two to her resume,
A maiden Grand Slam quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open may have ended in a swift straight-sets loss to Dominika Cibulkova, but that was soon followed by her winning the biggest title of her career in Doha.
She made the French Open final in June, where she lost to Maria Sharapova in the tournament’s first three-set women’s final since 2001.
Then, an ankle injury conspired against her as she fell to Eugenie Bouchard in the semi-finals at Wimbledon. Had she won through to the final, many would have rated her a good chance of toppling Petra Kvitova.
Since then, Halep won the inaugural title in her hometown of Bucharest, and later reached the quarter-finals in Cincinnati, losing for a third time this season to Maria Sharapova.
As it stands, the US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament in which she has failed to reach the quarter-finals, and given her ranking, there will be no excuses for Halep not to break that duck this year.
Another interesting question will be whether she can continue her good form at the Grand Slam tournaments this year.
Prediction: Semi-finals
Petra Kvitova
Current world ranking: 4
Grand Slam results this year to date:
Australian Open: First round
French Open: Third round
Wimbledon: Won
Titles won this year to date: Wimbledon
US Open history
Best result: Fourth round (2009, 2012)
Last year’s result: Third round
With the notable exception of winning Wimbledon for a second time in July, season 2014 has been a mostly poor one for world number four Petra Kvitova.
Her recent results at Montreal and Cincinnati also do little to suggest that she will improve her record at Flushing Meadows anytime soon. The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament in which she has yet to reach the quarter-finals.
Wimbledon aside, where she brushed aside a nervous Eugenie Bouchard to salute for a second time after winning in 2011, her only other notable result included reaching the semi-finals at the Premier Mandatory event in Madrid, aided by the withdrawal of quarter-final opponent Serena Williams.
Will this be the year the Czech finally improves her results in New York, or will her poor results at most tournaments this year come back to bite her?
Prediction: Fourth round
Agnieszka Radwanska
Current world ranking: 5
Grand Slam results this year to date:
Australian Open: Semi-finals
French Open: Third round
Wimbledon: Fourth round
Titles won this year to date: Montreal
US Open history
Best result: Fourth round (2007, 2008, 2012, 2013)
Last year’s result: Fourth round
Until she won the Rogers Cup in Montreal just recently, season 2014 had been an average one for former Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska.
She started the year at the Hopman Cup in Perth, narrowly failing to land Poland its first title in what was their first year in the competition. That was then followed by reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open, where she was unexpectedly thumped by Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets.
After reaching the final at Indian Wells and losing there to Flavia Pennetta, she was then favoured to win her national tournament in Katowice, but lost there to eventual champion Alize Cornet in the semi-finals.
Her two subsequent Grand Slam tournaments then ended in swift exits at the French Open and Wimbledon to Ajla Tomljanovic and Ekaterina Makarova, respectively.
However, the Premier tournament in Montreal saw her turn a corner, as she defeated Venus Williams in straight sets to win her first title for the year; that was then followed by a quarter-final loss to Caroline Wozniacki at Cincinnati.
Still to reach a quarter-final at Flushing Meadows, Radwanska stands a chance of breaking that duck this year if she can continue her recent impressive form from Montreal and Cincinnati.
Prediction: Quarter-finals
Maria Sharapova
Current world ranking: 6
Grand Slam results this year to date:
Australian Open: Fourth round
French Open: Won
Wimbledon: Fourth round
Titles won this year to date: Stuttgart, Madrid, French Open
US Open history:
Best result: Won (2006)
Last year’s result: Did not play
After a poor start to the season which yielded no tournament finals in the first three months, Maria Sharapova started to find form during the clay court swing, winning titles in Stuttgart, Madrid and the French Open for a second time.
Her fifth Grand Slam title saw her take the lead in the Race to Singapore and despite losing in the fourth round at Wimbledon shortly after, the Russian has not relinquished the lead.
She endured a modest lead-up to the US Open, losing to Carla Suarez Navarro in the third round in Montreal and then blowing two match points against Ana Ivanovic in a thrilling and dramatic semi-final at Cincinnati.
This does little to suggest that she will do well in New York, where she has made the quarter-finals or better only once (in 2012, when she lost a three-set semi-final against Victoria Azarenka) since lifting the title in 2006.
Having missed last year’s tournament due to a shoulder injury, from which she has fully recovered going by her good form this year, the Russian can make a push to return to the top four before the year is out.
But to do that, she will need to go deep into the tournament and hope that Agnieszka Radwanska, who is ranked just above her at number five, suffers an early exit.
However, the Russian’s seeding of fifth could translate into a possible quarter-final against Serena Williams, whom she has never met in New York or defeated in almost a decade.
Prediction: Quarter-finals
Other contenders
It will be interesting to see how Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard fares in New York.
Since breaking into the top ten, the Canadian dropped her openers in Montreal and Cincinnati, but has returned to the winners list at the Connecticut Open, winning her first round match against Bojana Jovanovski there. She next plays Samantha Stosur in the second round with a quarter-final berth at stake.
This year’s match-win leader with 47, Ana Ivanovic, has also just returned to the top ten after an absence of more than five years, and her seeding of eighth will be her highest since the 2009 French Open.
The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament in which she has not reached the semi-finals, however, her run to the final eight two years ago was her best result at this level since winning the French Open in 2008.
It will also be interesting to see how two-time finalist Victoria Azarenka fares. Having slipped to 17th in the world after a season sabotaged by injuries, the Belarussian could face Serena Williams as early as the fourth round, and a loss in the first week could also see her ranking drop beyond the 40s.
This means that she risks being unseeded at next year’s Australian Open, and the consequences of it will be unforgiving.
Others to watch out for include Angelique Kerber, as well as former world number ones Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki.
World number three and Australian Open champion Li Na is the only major absentee from the US Open, having suffered a knee injury which hampered her after Miami.
Will Serena Williams capture a third consecutive title at Flushing Meadows, or will someone else finally wrest the crown away from her? This will make for what should be an intriguing and open women’s tournament in New York.
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