Serena Williams has a supreme record at her home grand slam tournament. Will any tennis stars catch her in the race to win the most women’s US Open titles?
The US Open has produced some amazing champions over the years in the women’s singles.
Serena Williams and Chris Evert are among the American female tennis players to have thrived at their home grand slam.
As well as those two, many of the other biggest names in women’s sport have successfully made their mark at the fourth major of the year in New York.
There have also been some stunning upsets too, with Emma Raducanu winning the 2021 event without dropping a set having come through qualification. That was the first time a qualifier has won a major in the Open Era.
And that stunning win came just two years after a surprise triumph for Bianca Andreescu.
We have reviewed the players with the most US Open women’s singles titles and looked at some of the tournament’s standout statistics in the Open Era.
Serena Williams: 6 US Open Titles
No player has won more women’s singles titles at the US Open than Serena Williams, who is widely recognised as the best female player of the modern era.
Serena had more championships at the Australian Open and Wimbledon (seven at each), but it was at the US Open where she won the first of her incredible 23 grand slam titles.
She recorded an incredible 108 match wins at the US Open and made it to the final at Flushing Meadows on 10 occasions.
The first of those came in 1999 when she won the US Open on only her second appearance. It was quite a path to victory, as from round three onwards she had to defeat Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martínez, Monica Seles, defending champion Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis.
Davenport got revenge a year later, but Serena was back in the next two finals at Flushing Meadows.
Sister Venus Williams defeated Serena in the 2001 final, sealing a second straight year without a major for the younger sibling. But Serena bounced back sensationally in 2002.
After missing the Australian Open through injury, she won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open that year. Serena defeated Venus in straight sets for all three of those final wins, claiming her second title in the United States in dominant fashion without dropping a set across the tournament.
She would then follow those three successes up with an Australian Open win in 2003, to secure what was dubbed the ‘Serena Slam’.
The next eight years were quieter for Serena at the US Open. She missed two of the events through injury and reached the final in just one of the six events she played, but did make the most of it by claiming a third tournament triumph in 2008. Jelena Janković was beaten in the final, with Serena once more winning the event without dropping a set, a feat she would later achieve for a third time.
Serena was soon back at the top of her game, reaching four consecutive US Open finals between 2011 and 2014.
She lost the first of those to Samantha Stosur but then raced up to six US Open crowns with two battling three-set wins over Victoria Azarenka and a 2-0 victory over Caroline Wozniacki in 2014, which was the third time she had not dropped a set across any of her seven matches.
The following year, in a stunning upset, a semi-final loss to Roberta Vinci denied Serena the chance to win a calendar Grand Slam and ended her long streak of final appearances, while Karolína Pliskova stopped her in the last four a year later.
On her return from pregnancy in 2018, Williams was determined to land a seventh US Open title that would have also given her the elusive 24th grand slam title she wanted to surpass the overall record held by Margaret Court.
She came so close to doing so but lost twice in the US Open final. The first was a controversial defeat to Naomi Osaka in which Serena clashed with the umpire and the second, in 2019 to Canadian Bianca Andreescu, came in straight sets, ultimately proving to be her last major final.
Azarenka defeated Serena in the 2020 semi-finals, by which point injuries and a gruelling career were starting to take their toll. Her run to the third round in 2022 was seen as her likely farewell to tennis and included an impressive win over second seed Anett Kontaveit, with the three matches giving the American crowd to show their appreciation.
Serena also won two US Open women’s doubles titles with Venus and the US Open mixed doubles with Max Mirnyi in 1998.
Chris Evert: 6 US Open Titles
Serena shares the record with fellow American Chris Evert, who was the first women’s singles player to reach six US Open titles.
Both Serena and Evert have surpassed the best men’s singles total at this major, which is five – jointly held by Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors.
Evert’s consistency at the US Open was incredible. She made the quarter-finals or better on all 19 of her appearances and the semi-finals 17 times, including on her debut appearance at a grand slam as a 16-year-old in 1971, where it took eventual champion Billie Jean King to stop her in the last four.
She would go on to lose four straight US Open semi-finals to start her career, but once she broke through that barrier in 1975, there was no stopping Evert, who stormed into nine finals in the space of 10 years.
Evert came from behind to defeat Evonne Goolagong Cawley in her first final and was utterly dominant in the next three years, winning in 1976, 1977 and 1978 without dropping a set – Goolagong Cawley, Wendy Turnbull and Pam Shriver beaten in the respective finals.
The win over Shriver meant she had won the first US Open played on a hard court, but Tracy Austin stopped her run with a straight-sets final win in 1979. Evert got revenge in the semi-finals a year later, before a hard-earned final win over Hana Mandlíková took her to five titles.
Martina Navratilova halted her run of seven straight finals with a last-four win in 1981, but Evert responded well once more, this time by making the showpiece for another three straight years.
Her sixth title again came with a win over Mandlíková, although losses to Navratilova in 1983 and 1984 denied her a seventh crown.
Evert did not make the final again but reached either the quarter-finals or semi-finals in each of her last five appearances, finishing with 101 match wins and just 12 defeats at the tournament.
Steffi Graf: 5 US Open Titles
Steffi Graf had a spectacular career and won each of the four grand slam events at least four times.
Her number at the US Open was five, so she fared better on the American hard courts than in Australia, where she was a four-time champion.
Graf was just 16 when she reached the US Open semi-final in 1985 and the teenager reached the same stage a year later. On both occasions, she lost to Martina Navratilova.
But the rapid rise of Graf could not be slowed for long. She went one step further in 1987, Navratilova winning the final, before winning her first two US Opens in consecutive years.
The first of those, in 1988, saw Graf defeat Gabriela Sabatini in the final after Navratilova had been knocked out in the last eight. The US Open win sealed the German’s famous Grand Slam success – and no singles player has repeated the feat since in either men’s tennis or the women’s game.
She defended her title in 1989, a success that may have been sweeter given it included a direct win over Navratilova in the final after a stirring comeback, but it was Sabatini who emerged triumphant the following season, meaning Graf had made four straight finals and won two.
The following two years saw Graf miss out on the final, but she then reached the final in four straight years, defeating Helena Suková, losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and then earning two straight wins over Monica Seles. Her success in 1996, her fifth and final US Open win, was arguably her best, as she took the trophy without dropping a set.
She had already been battling injury issues in previous appearances before being ruled out of the 1997 tournament and a fourth-round loss to Patty Schnyder a year later turned out to be her last appearance.
Graf also claimed seven Wimbledon titles and six French Open crowns despite retiring at the age of 30. While she had battled injury, Graf retired at a point of time where she still featured prominently at the top of the women’s rankings and had recently lost the Wimbledon final, saying she felt her motivation slipping and had nothing left to accomplish in the sport.
Martina Navratilova: 4 US Open Titles
At Wimbledon, Martina Navratilova won a remarkable nine singles titles, but aside from the British major, the US Open was the tennis great’s best grand slam tournament.
Navratilova claimed four US Open championships and was the runner-up on a further four occasions.
She defeated Evert twice, Helena Suková and Steffi Graf in US Open finals, with two of her tournament wins, in 1983 and 1987, coming without dropping a set.
Her defeats in showpiece final clashes came to Tracy Austin, Hana Mandlíková, Graf and Monica Seles.
It took her 11 attempts to win the US Open, a run that included a close third-set tie-break loss to Austin in the 1981 final.
But she made seven finals in a fantastic nine-year run from 1983, which was when she won her first US Open with a comprehensive win over Evert.
Navratilova was also a nine-time winner of the US Open women’s doubles and a three-time mixed doubles champion.
Kim Clijsters: 3 US Open Titles
As a three-time US Open winner, Kim Clijsters is one of the tournament’s best champions in women’s tennis during the Open Era.
Clijsters lost her first US Open final against fellow Belgian player Justine Henin. Having not lost a set in reaching the showpiece match and going in as the favourite, she lost 7-5 6-1 to Henin.
Overall, Clijsters lost all her first four grand slam finals, three of which came against Henin.
After that 2003 final loss, Clijsters only played three US Open tournaments in eight years, but amazingly won the event on all three occasions she featured during that run.
Those successes helped Clijsters reverse her fortunes in major finals. After losing her first four, she won four in a row (the three US Opens and a 2011 Australian Open final win over Li Na).
Her streak of final defeats ended with success in the 2005 US Open. She had missed the previous year’s tournament through injury but was superb on her return, defeating Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova before a comfortable win over Mary Pierce in the final.
But injury again ruled her out the following year and she announced her retirement at the age of 23. Clijsters was out of the game for two years, and gave birth to her daughter, before announcing her return to the WTA Tour.
Her success in 2009 was sensational, as she entered the tournament unranked as a wildcard playing her first grand slam in almost three years before going all the way to win, beating Serena Williams in the semis and Caroline Wozniacki in the final.
And in 2010 she crushed Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-1 to win a third US Open.
Clijsters had more injury issues and would later retire again before launching another comeback that was not quite as successful.
But the streak of reaching the final in four straight tournaments that she competed in (2003, 2005, 2009 and 2010) amid so many different absences was a remarkable feat, ensuring her place in the tournament history books is secure.
Other Multiple Women’s US Open Champions
Japanese star Naomi Osaka is a two-time champion, triumphing in 2018 and 2020 with wins over Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka respectively.
Venus Williams won the tournament twice as well, doing so in back-to-back years (2000 and 2001) against Lindsay Davenport and sister Venus. Monica Seles also won consecutive crowns in 1991 and 1992.
Justine Henin triumphed twice at the US Open and lost her other final appearance against Maria Sharapova in 2006.
Tracy Austin won both US Open singles finals she played in, seeing off two of the greats in Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
Most All-Time Wins
Two of the best-known players in the history of women’s tennis, Margaret Court and Billie Jean King, are notable former US Open champions.
Court won five titles, three of which came in the Open Era, while King triumphed four times, with her first success coming in 1967 and further wins coming in 1971, 1972 and 1974.
However, top of the standings overall with the all-time record is Molla Mallory, who won a record eight championships.
Her first came in 1915, which kickstarted a run of four straight titles – a feat only ever matched by Evert in the years since.
Mallory was 42 in 1926 by the time she incredibly claimed an eighth victory at the tournament.
Most Women’s US Open Final Appearances
The 10 US Open finals reached by Serena Williams in the US Open is a tournament record for the women’s singles.
Serena won six and lost four, including suffering defeat in her last two showpiece appearances against Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu.
Chris Evert comes next after making the final nine times (6-3 record), while Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf were both eight-time finalists.
No other women’s player has made more than four US Open finals.
Most Consecutive US Open Titles and Finals
Chris Evert winning four straight US Open titles between 1975 and 1978 is the best streak recorded in women’s tennis during the Open Era.
Serena Williams came close to matching that. She won three tournaments in a row between 2012 and 2014, while making the semi-finals in 2015. She had also lost the final in 2011 before that run of wins.
Martina Navratilova won four during a five-year run, with a final defeat to Hana Mandlíková coming in the middle of that stretch.
The record for most consecutive appearances in the US Open final is also held by Evert, who made it to six in a row.
Martina Navratilova is in second place with five straight finals between 1983 and 1987.
No one has matched that streak since, though Steffi Graf had two separate streaks of making four straight US Open finals.
Serena Williams (2011-2014) and Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1973-1976) also made it to four showpiece matches in a row.
No player in the women’s singles has defended the US Open title since Serena Williams in 2014. Iga Świątek, Sloane Stephens and Angelique Kerber are other notable singles winners over the last decade.
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