WTA Aug 25-Sept 7 US Open Flushing Meadows, NY Grand Slam $19,653,000 128 players - outdoor: hard Deco Turf Matches: Live Scores - OOP - results Draws: WS pdf - mix doub Women: qualif - singles - doub Men: qualif - singles - doub pics: "US Open" - "U.S. Open"     CBS - tourney - slides - WTA stats - US Open Radio listen live Video: highlight videos     WTA interview videos TV Sched - news - interviews website map - venue map - history NYC: radar - forecast - news # # # # #

Tourney pages: US Open: 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 previous other tourney pages next Flushing Meadows 2007: #1 Justine Henin 5'5¾" 126lb RH 1H-BH US Open 2007: 7th Grand Slam Title Flushing Meadows 2007: 2nd US Open Title

    The US Open draws are not yet available. If the same pattern as in 2007 is followed, the US Open ladies qualifying draw will be posted at about 4:40pm on Monday, August 18, and the US Open singles main draws will be posted at about 10:30am on Wednesday, August 20.

    The 128-player Ladies main draw will include 104 direct entries (based on player's ranks on July 14), 8 wild cards, and 16 qualifiers (in 2005, the ladies draw had 108 direct-ins and 12 quallies).

Early round play at Flushing Meadows begins at noon local time. click for broader view USTA Billie Jean King Nat'l Tennis Center at Corona Park in Flushing Meadows Latitude: 40.749874 Long.: -73.84689 goto link for World Wind - venue map NWS weather radar: Flushing Meadows current conditions:     The US Open has 32 seeds, with no 1st-round byes. There are 16 qualifiers and 8 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Friday, August 24th.     New York (daylight savings) time is GMT (UCT, ZULU) + 4 hours (=US Eastern Daylight Time, PDT -3). Early round play begins at 11am local time; the Final is at 7pm on Saturday, Sept 8th.

On Saturday in New York, in the final of the 2007 US Open, the 2003 champion, 25-year-old top-seeded # 1 Justine Henin of Belgium (residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco), defeated the 2004 champ, 25-year-old 5th-seeded # 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (who also now resides in Monte Carlo), 6-1, 6-3 (Justine is shown during the match, and posing with the hardware on Sunday).     Svetlana served first, and won the first two points, but Justine won the next four points with aggressive play, taking a one break lead immediately. Justine then held her serve to take a 2-0 lead, drawing errors from Svetlana with strong groundstrokes and by taking the net. Svetlana came closer to holding serve on her second attempt, but was again broken by Justine.     The fourth game, Justine serving, was the longest of the 1st set, with Svetlana holding a break point which she could not convert, then reaching deuce twice more, before Justine held with a 2nd serve ace down the middle.     Playing better now, Svetlana held serve to cut Justine's lead to 4-1. But Justine held at love in the 6th game, then broke Svetlana's serve a third time to take the 1st set 6-1.     Justine, clearly playing better than she had while losing the 2006 final to Maria Sharapova, was controlling the match with net play and well-placed high-paced groundstrokes, which set up winners, and pressured Svetlana into hitting errors, mostly off her backhand side. Justine, like all of Svetlana's opponents, is well aware that Sveta's forehand is her most dangerous side.     Justine served to start the 2nd set, and held. In the 2nd game Svetlana, with well-placed serves, held at love. Justine held serve again in the 3rd game, bringing the score to 6-1, 2-1.     The 4th game of the 2nd set was the longest of the match. After the seventh deuce, Svetlana netted a ball, then sent the next one long, giving Justine the break she needed to win the championship.     Leading 3-1, Justine successfully defended a break point, gained the advantage with her 2nd ace of the match, and held serve with a overhead smash winner. Svetlana held to cut Justine's lead to 6-1, 4-2, and Justine held again, on a backhand volley winner, to make it 5-2.     Serving to stay in the match, Svetlana again placed her deliveries (which are at a typical WTA pace, somewhat slower than Justine's) well, and held at love.     Serving for the match at 6-1, 5-3, Justine fired an ace up the T. As she was about to deliver her next serve, a moron in the crowd yelled as she was beginning her toss. Justine then double faulted, and double faulted again. 15-30. Svetlana won the next point with a high forehand volley, almost a smash. 15-40. Justine fired another ace up the T, 30-40, Svetlana sent the ball wide to make it deuce.     Another double fault gave Svetlana the break point she needed. Justine does not often have a high 1st serve percentage, and she accepts a moderate number of double faults as the price for often exceeding 90 mph on her 2nd serves. This was not a good time for such an occurrance, however.     But Svetlana sent the next ball long, bringing up a second deuce, and then did it again, giving Justine match point. And Justine won her 7th Grand Slam singles title by taking the net, as she had successfully throughout the match, winning with a drop shot, which Svetlana barely reached, and a lob volley over Sveta's head, which she had no hope of reaching. It was Justine's only lob in the match.     Justine scored on 81% of her net approaches (13 of 16); Svetlana on 71% (10 of 14). Justine hit 25 winners with 21 unforced errors, and converted 4 of 8 break points (Svetlana: 11 winners, 29 errors, 0 of 6 break points). match stats - BBC game-by-game     Justine said: "The quality I played in the last few matches is amazing. It's just a great feeling because I had a tough draw and I had a lot of things to prove to myself--not to anyone else, just to myself. And I did it. So I've been so consistent for two weeks and so calm, so relaxed, and it's been great. I didn't lose a set in Toronto and in here, so it's just great what I did and I'm really proud of it." postmatch interview     Svetlana's WTA singles ranking will reach a career-high # 2 on Monday. Svetlana said: "I think the match was much closer than the score... To beat Justine, she's No. 1. When she plays her best game I have to play my best game. I didn't play my best game so that's why I lost...

    "With these players like her, so high level, you just have few opportunities, not many. If you don't use them, there's no way I gonna win. I had so many of them. I felt I just didn't move to the ball well enough because I was pretty tight. So I think I got to learn a lot out of this final and take many times and improve it. There is something about my game I have to work." postmatch interview

    Justine now leads Svetlana 15-2 in career matches, but Svetlana won the last time they played, on red clay (Justine's favorite surface) in the semifinal of this year's German Open in Berlin, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Prior to that, Justine defeated Svetlana ten times in a row, dating back to early 2004.

    7-time Grand Slam tourney champ Justine is now 36-16 in WTA singles finals; her match record for 2007 is 49-4. Justine Henin Wallpaper
    1-time Grand Slam tourney champ Svetlana is 9-12 in WTA singles finals; she has a 48-14 match record for 2007.

    Justine's championship prize, in addition to having her name engraved on the trophy for a 2nd time, is $1.4 million dollars; Svetlana's prize is $700,000.
    Justine and Svetlana, and other WTA players including, Daniela Hantuchova, Dinara Safina, Caroline Wozniacki, & Emmanuelle Gagliardi, reside in Monte Carlo because in Monaco there is no personal income tax (unless you are French).
    Players also have to pay taxes in most countries in which they win their prize money (usually 15% to 25% is withheld from their checks), but those who reside in Monaco avoid paying them twice.

Major Skirmishes, Top Half Sunday 4th Round: # 1 Justine Henin d # 16 Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-2 # 3 Jelena Jankovic d # 20 Sybille Bammer 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 # 12 Venus Williams d # 5 Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-2 # 9 Serena Williams d # 11 Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-4 Tuesday & Wednesday Quarterfinals: # 1 Justine Henin d # 9 Serena Williams 7-6(3), 6-1 Tue eve # 12 Venus Williams d # 3 Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) Wed Friday Semifinal: # 1 Justine Henin d # 12 Venus Williams 7-6(2), 6-4

Major Skirmishes, Bottom Half Monday 4th Round: # 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova d # 38 Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-3 # 6 Anna Chakvetadze d # 43 Tamira Paszek 6-1, 7-5 # 19 Shahar Peer d # 32 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-1 # 41 Agnes Szavay d # 48 Julia Vakulenko 6-4, 7-6(1) Wednesday Quarterfinals: # 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova d # 41 Agnes Szavay 6-1, 6-4 # 6 Anna Chakvetadze d # 19 Shahar Peer 6-4, 6-1 Friday Semifinal: # 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova d # 6 Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-1, 6-1

Sunday Men's Final: s1 Roger Federer SUI d s3 Novak Djokovic SRB 7-6(4), 7-6(2), 6-4

WTA SCOREBOARD: The US Open at Flushing Meadows, New York s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? 2007: On Wed, August 22, in New York, Nadia Petrova was stranded atop the Empire State Building with a friend of Fay Wray... meanwhile, 2006 US Open champ Maria Sharapova struggled to escape the grip of photographers admiring her new Nike togs... On Thursday, the 23rd, 2000 & 2001 US Open champ Venus Williams showed reporters her new line of clothing, while 2006 champ Maria sliced some backhands at Flushing Meadows... 2007: Ana Ivanovic also looked good at practice on Thursday, as did Maria while attending a charity auction on Thursday evening... On Saturday, pretty ladies meeting the press included 2003 champ Justine Henin, 1999 & 2002 champ Serena Williams, that Sharapova girl again, and Jelena Jankovic... 2007: Serena Williams fired a forehand at kid's day on Saturday, while Ana Ivanovic and 1997 champ Martina Hingis goofed off... On Monday, Martina, hearing about Nadia's situation, rushed to the top of the Empire State Building, but found that Fay Wray's friend had already left with Nadia... Tennis fan Christie Brinkley attended the opening night session on Monday...

US Open, 1st Rd Mon-Tue Aug 25-26 11am loser's prize: $17,500 (2006: $16,500); points: 2 According to WTA rules:     "All players who qualify by ranking for acceptance into the Main Draw of a Grand Slam Tournament will be entered automatically.     "The ranking points earned by any player who qualifies for acceptance in the Main Draw of a Grand Slam Tournament must count on a player's ranking as one her best of seventeen (17) Tournament results.     "Any player who is orginally accepted into the main draw, or becomes a direct acceptance and subsequently withdraws and therefore fails to play a Grand Slam Tournament, will automatically receive "0" points for the Tournament and it will count on the player's ranking as one of her best 17 Tournament results."

US Open, 2nd Rd Wed-Thu Aug 27-28 loser's prize: $27,500; points: 60

US Open, 3rd Rd Fri-Sat Aug 29-30 loser's prize: $43,000; points: 90

US Open, 4th Rd, Sun-Mon Aug 31-Sep 1 loser's prize: $75,000; points: 140

US Open, QFs, Tues-Wed Sep 2-3 loser's prize: $150,000; points: 250

US Open, SFs, Fri Sep 5 CBS-TV loser's prize: $300,000; points: 450

US Open, Final, Sat Sep 6 7pm CBS-TV loser's prize: $700,000; points: 700 winner's prize: $1,400,000; points: 1000

US Open, Qualifying Finals Fri Aug 22 11am Q1st loser's prize: $3,000 (2006: $3,000); 2 points Q2nd loser's prize: $5,625; 15 points Qfinal loser's prize: $8,000; 25 points US Open, Doubles Final, Sun Sep 7 loser's prize: $200,000 winner's prize: $400,000 US Open, Mixed Doubles Final, Thu Sep 4 loser's prize: $70,000 winner's prize: $150,000 US Open, Girls Singles Final, Sun Sept 7 US Open, Girls Doubles Final, Sat Sept 6 US Open, Withdrawals/Non-entries

2008 US Open interview transcript archive at ASAP Sports

See also: QuickShop: Sporting Goods - Martina Hingis - Anna Kournikova

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2008 WTA Schedule with links & photos

Link to many postmatch interview & match highlight videos of WTA players at the 2008 WTA Player Videos page.

WTA PhotoRankings: the current top 20 Women's Tennis rankings with player photos, links, and bio info.