After an overwhelmingly impressive season for the Americans as a whole, expectations and hope were empty in the final majors of the year.
Four different American women reached the previous four major finals, while several American men broke through the summer. It felt like the US was opening up to something special. Historical,
But it doesn’t plan accurately.
On the second day of the tournament, Australian Open Champion and sixth seed Madison Keys caused a shocking upset for Renata Zarazua. On Friday, in just a moment of each other, sixth seed Ben Shelton, who won the Canadian Open earlier this month, retired with a shoulder injury in his third match, and the 17th seed, two-time tournament semi-finalist Francis Tierfour, was defeated in straight sets by Jan-Lennard Struff. By the end of round 32, no. There were also 10-seeded Emmanavaro and 14-seeded Tommy poles packed.
Still, even with an incredible early exit, six American candidates remain in the main draw. Coco Gorff was the last American to win the singles title (2023), and Jessica Pegra and Taylor Fritz both reached the finals last year. Everyone advanced to the second week.
As well documented and discussed, since Andy Roddick won the US Open title in 2003, the American man hasn’t won a big title anywhere. Will one of the remaining five women continue their national hot streak? You’ll understand immediately.
This is what the Americans remain in the draw and how they came here.
No. 3 Coco Gauff
Who is beat: Ajla Tomljanovic, Donna Vekic, No. 28Magdalena French
Next: No. 23 Naomi osaka
We’ve only been in our second week in New York and it was already one of Gauff’s tournaments.
Following his second major title at the French Open in June, the 21-year-old Gouff had a challenging summer, including a first-round defeat at Wimbledon and a frequent presence serve that will become an increasingly responsible match. She recorded the most 23 double faults in WTA matches in the last six years in her Canadian Open matches, with 42 in three matches in Montreal.
Although there were only days to go before the start of the main draw at the US Open, Goff fired one of the unorthodox coaches, Matt Daly, and brought in biomechanics expert Gavin McMillan, who was the 2022 person who was born in Biomechanics, who was overcoming her service. Overhaul her service movement.
Her first two matches showed that it was an ongoing work as she fought against her enemies, double shortcomings, and her emotions. Her first match with Tomljanovic lasted nearly three hours. She was brought to tears following a particularly disastrous service game against Vekic in the second round. But in both matches, she found a way to win, even if she struggled.
In a matchup with Flek on Saturday, she saw all the controls, saw all the things and recorded the most outspoken and dominant victory in the tournament with her final score of 6-3, 6-1 so far. She had four double faults that day and won in serves in 7 of her eight games. Goff, who reached the 16th round in the slam, was unable to hide her relief after the match.
“It was an emotional week…but I think we need those tough moments to move forward,” Gouf said. “I put so much pressure on myself, and I really enjoyed it and I’m really out here rather than focusing so much on the outcome, but I think today it showed me that I’m really enjoying it.”
Gauff will next be a must-see event with Osaka, the revived four-time major champion. The two first played each other at the US Open in 2019. This was equally hyped, but ultimately a (memorable) encounter that led to Osaka winning. Since then, Gauff has won three of his last four meetings, but his final match at the 2024 China Open ended with retirement due to injuries before the start of the deciding set.
Osaka hadn’t finished the three-round match yet when Gouf spoke to the media on Saturday, so she wasn’t entirely sure if they would play, but she was clearly excited by the possibility.
“Naomi and I, we’re not very close either, but we’re definitely friendly with each other,” Gouf said. “I support her from afar with everything that’s been done in court. If I were to play her, I imagine we’d probably be in Ash, I’m just assuming.
No. 4 Taylor Fritz
People he’s beaten so far: Emilio Nava, Lloyd Harris, Jerome Kim
Next: No. 21 Tomas Machac
Fritz, 27, has long been one of the tennis faces of American men and has been one of his best hopes to snap a slum drought. He did it in New York a year ago, but fell to Janik Thinner in the final.
However, since running in 2024, he has reached the final in the ATP Finals at the end of the year, becoming a key player in the top five in the rankings. During the meadow season, he won two titles and reached the semi-finals for the first time at Wimbledon. His hard court season hasn’t been that successful so far, but he has made the Final Four at the Canadian Open and arrived at the last major major of the year to brimm with confidence.
Fritz cruised in the opening round match and has been challenged ever since. He has played all the games so far for Louis Armstrong, including the fourth collision held on Sunday, Fritz dropped his first set with Harris and lost the second set to Kym in a tiebreak. He won both in four sets. Fritz later told reporters that he lost a tiebreaker to Kim.
“What else are you going to do (to myself) when something like that happens? You’re going to take it down and cry about it, think about it, and lose the match? You’re going to feel bad,” Fritz said. “The only thing I can do to make sure that tiebreaker just wins a match and doesn’t feel like that kind of loser.”
Fritz can’t afford to buy an expiration in Sunday’s match against Machak. The two have played twice before and Fritz won both. However, in a recent meeting in the semi-finals of the season-opening United Cup, Fritz had beaten the set in hopes that Machuk would force a decider before retiring from the match due to convulsions. So Fritz needs to be ready, as anything is possible when the interests rise even higher.
If Fritz wins on Sunday, he could have taken the toughest test in the tournament in the quarter-finals against 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic.
No. 4 Jessica Pegula
Players she’s beaten so far: Mayal Sheriff, Anna Brinkova, Victoria Azarenka
Next: Anley
After reaching the first major title of her career at the US Open last year, the hopes were high for the 31-year-old Pegra at the beginning of the new season. However, she was unable to replicate that success in the first three slams of the year – losing in the third round at the Australian Open and suffering from a stunning first round at Wimbledon in the fourth round at the French Open.
But now, returning to New York, Pegra has not missed the beat and appears to have rediscovered the dominant form.
After reaching the semi-finals at the Mixed Doubles event, Pegula opened her 2025 singles campaign with a bagel set against Sherif. Throughout her first three games, she has yet to drop a set and has not given up more than six games in the match. She had the toughest battle in the tournament on Friday against two major champions and former world number one Azarenka. After cruising mostly in the first set against Azarenka, who had been visibly struggling with leg injuries, the much more competitive second set followed. Pegra was forced to do the same when Azarenka raised her level, but enough for a 6-1, 7-5 victory.
“I tried to focus on my strategy, going back to what worked out in the first set,” Pegra said after the match about how she recovered in the second set. “I thought I moved and scrambled really well. I wanted the match to be physical. My results have not been much of a surprise over the last few months, so it was amazing to turn it around.”
Pegra will next face fellow American Anley on Sunday. They have met twice on tours. Lee won his first clash in the semi-finals at Lexington back in 2018, but Pegra won the recent conference in the second round at Roland Garros earlier this season.
Anne Lee
Player she has beaten so far: Rebecca Slamkova, No. 16 Belinda Benchic, Priscilla Hon
Next: No. 4 Jessica Pegula
The 25-year-old Li entered the US Open, ranked 58th in the world, and never made it past the third round in the majors. She has not won a match in the main draw at the US Open since 2020.
So, in short, it seems unlikely that Lee will reach the second week in New York at the start of the tournament.
But what is the difference between the week?
The Pennsylvania native reached the final at the US open warm-up event in Cleveland just days before the main draw began. Or inexperienced or self-doubt. After dropping the opening set for the tournament, Li hasn’t lost since. Lee was almost perfect at the start of the match and took control early, against Bensik, who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon earlier this summer. She held back the attempts of Bensik at the comeback for an impressive 6-3, 6-3 victory.
On Friday, against Hong, Li was more consistent and consistent than her even experienced opponents, embracing her nerves at the most important moments in a match with multiple momentum shifts and marathon games. With a 5-2 lead in the opening set, Hong fought back and leveled to win the next three games. However, Lee was not insane. She won the set and dominated in the second set with a 7-5, 6-3 victory. Li is currently expected to reach No. 44’s career-high ranking after advancing to the fourth round.
If she defeats Pegra on Sunday, she will likely rise to around 36. During a post-game interview in court on Friday, she said it was “super exciting” to have the opportunity to play Pegra in Ash.
“It’s incredible to be the slum in my home in the first fourth round, here in New York,” Lee said. “I’m just playing games and enjoying the moment, so I’m not going to lose from here.”
No. 8 Amanda Anisimova
People she’s beaten so far: Kimberly Burrell, Maya Joint, Jacqueline Christian
Next: No. 18 Beatriz Haddad Maia
It was meteor season for Anishimoba, who celebrated her 24th birthday on Sunday.
After achieving success early in her career, including the US Open Junior Title (who beat Gouf in the final), and reaching the semi-finals at the 17-year-old French Open in 2019, Anishimoba suffered from many set-offs in court. In 2023, she announced she would take an indefinite break from tennis, citing burnout.
She returned at the beginning of 2024 and soon proved that she was back by reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open. And this year was even more impressive. Anishimoba won the biggest title of his career at the 1000-level Qatar Open in February and reached his first major final at Wimbledon in July. She cracked the top ten in the rankings for the first time, peaking at number 7.
And now, at the US Open, she has reached the fourth round for the first time. In her first two rounds, she did not drop the set. She took a more challenging test by Christian on Saturday, but eventually found a way to win with the decider. Earlier this week, Anishimova told reporters that she enjoyed the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd and wanted to build what she started at Wimbledon.
“I was playing some great tennis there and there were a lot of tough matches and very tough fights I’ve experienced,” Anisimova said. “So I think it’s going to be very important just to take a particular moment here from Wimbledon. There’s been a lot of times I’ve really digged deeper, and I think it’s going to be really important to me.”
Anishimova will then face Haddad Maia, who played in a very late-night match on Saturday, and have the chance to reach her first major hard court quarterfinals. Anisimova won two of his three career meetings, while Haddad Maia won his final outing in Adelaide in 2023.
Who she has beaten so far: Antonia Luzic, No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko, No. 5 Myrrh Andreva
Next: Barborakrejcíkova
As the current world number one and two major doubles champion in doubles, including this year’s Australia Open, I feel dishonest to call Townsend a tournament breakout star, but she definitely introduced herself to the world with her horrifying play and incredible calm and demean.
Following his second 7-5, 6-1 victory over French Open champion Ostapenko in 2017, Ostapenko stood up aggressively to Townsend, saying “no class” and “no education” because he didn’t apologise early in the match. The moment went viral, and Townsend was widely praised when he told reporters how she responded to her reaction at the time. (Ostapenko later apologized.)
Two days after the incident, Townsend was tasked with facing the teenage genius Andreva in a night match at Ash. With her eyes on her more than ever before, the New York crowd looked firmly behind her, Townsend once again letting her racket talk. She met in that moment and recorded a great 7-5, 6-2 victory.
“Damn, this feels good,” Townsend told the crowd after securing the victory. “All I want to say is ‘Welcome to the show’. ”
“It’s bigger than me,” she said later in the interview. “It’s about expression. It’s bold and you can show up like you are.”
Although he reached his fourth round at the 2019 US Open, Townsend, 29, included a run that included an upset against No. 4 seed Simone Halep in the fourth round thriller, Townsend, 29. Krejcíkova won the only previous singles meeting at the ITF event eight years ago, but is familiar with each other in doubles, including in the 2022 US Open Finals. There is also crowd support for the match as Townsend said his 4-year-old son Addin would be present.
But no matter what happens, Townsend, who advanced to the third round in doubles on Saturday, knows that this tournament is something to remember.
“I just got a lot of love and support on a personal level from the fans and the people who really support and shake me,” Townsend told reporters early Saturday morning. “I took it and I said, ‘Wow, this is great…”
“I think it’s cool because I think I’m just showing up like myself and people are watching it, so I think they like what I’m seeing. I think it’s pretty cool. I think it’s all important.
