The tournament was initially going to finish with Men's Singles final on September 12, but was postponed due to rain on the last day and just before the men's tournament final. In the previous two years the tournament was also postponed because of weather.
Juan Martín del Potro and Kim Clijsters were the defending champions. Del Potro, due to a wrist injury, opted not to defend his title. Clijsters successfully defended her title with a score of 6–2, 6–1 in the final against Vera Zvonareva.[1]
Notable stories
Milestones
Maria Sharapova recorded her 100th Grand Slam match victory with a 6–0, 6–0 defeat of wildcard Beatrice Capra in the third round.[2]
Kim Clijsters became the first woman since Venus Williams in 2000–1 to successfully defend her US Open title, by defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final.[3] The final lasted just under one hour with Clijsters winning 6–2, 6–1.
Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2 in the men's final, and in doing so, completed his Golden Career Grand Slam.[4]
Serena Williams' withdrawal
Vera Zvonareva reached her first US Open final by defeating top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals.
Three-time champion and World No. 1 Serena Williams officially announced her withdrawal from the US Open on August 20 due to foot surgery.[5] Her withdrawal also meant that she and older sister Venus could not pair up to defend the doubles title they won in 2009,[6] and allowed WTA No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki to be installed as the top seed for the tournament,[7] where she was defeated in the semi-finals by Vera Zvonareva. It was the first time since 2003 in which Serena Williams was forced to miss her national championships due to injury, the first Grand Slam tournament she missed through injury since Wimbledon in 2006, the first time since the 2007 Australian Open in which the women's World No. 1 missed a Grand Slam tournament and the first time in the WTA's 35-year rankings history that the World No. 1 missed the US Open.[8]
In a second round match played in 104 °F (40 °C) heat, Belarusian 10th seed Victoria Azarenka collapsed whilst trailing Gisela Dulko 1–5 in the first set. Azarenka was subsequently taken to hospital in a wheelchair where she was diagnosed with mild concussion and later released a statement saying that a mishap in the gym, and not the heat, caused her to collapse during the match.[10][11] Her second round retirement represented her worst ever performance at the US Open, having never previously fallen before the third round. It was also the second time she was forced to retire from a match at a Major, when she retired in near identical circumstances against Serena Williams at the 2009 Australian Open.
Spanish performance
The men's tournament was well known for the excellent performances of Spanish players.[12][13] Of the sixteen Spaniards that started in the 128-man draw, six of them reached the fourth round: Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer, Feliciano López and Albert Montañés. There were two all-Spanish fourth round matches, guaranteeing two Spaniards in the quarter-finals: Nadal vs. López and Ferrer vs. Verdasco (the latter winning in a final set tiebreak). In a rematch of their 2009 Australian Open semi-final, Nadal defeated Verdasco in straight sets in the all-Spanish quarter-final,[citation needed] and went on to become the first Spaniard since Manuel Orantes in 1975 to win the US Open.[14]
Day 3: Ryan Harrison – The 18-year-old qualifier ousted 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubičić in a hard-fought match, 6–3, 6–7(4–7), 6–3, 6–4.[17]
Day 4: Kei Nishikori – The qualifier, and only Japanese player in the men's draw, upset 11th-seeded Marin Čilić in a grueling five-hour match, 5–7, 7–6(8–6), 3–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–1.[18]
Day 5: Sergiy Stakhovsky – The Pilot Pen champion fought past a rain delay, a partisan crowd, and a determined young opponent to take down Ryan Harrison, 6–3, 5–7, 3–6, 6–3, 7–6(8–6).[19]
Day 6: Caroline Wozniacki – The Pilot Pen champion destroyed Chan Yung-jan, 6–1, 6–0, maintaining her average of one game lost per match at the tournament as she heads into the Round of 16.[20]
Day 8: Kaia Kanepi – Overcame a lopsided start to upset 15th-seeded Yanina Wickmayer, 0–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–1, reaching her first US Open quarterfinals.[22]
Day 9: Stan Wawrinka – Two days after his upset of Andy Murray, the Swiss overcame crowd favorite and last American standing Sam Querrey in a long five-setter, 7–6(11–9), 6–7(5–7), 7–5, 4–6, 6–4.[23]
Day 10: Vera Zvonareva – Russia's top player defeated 31st-seeded Kaia Kanepi, 6–3, 7–5, in gusty conditions for her best-ever US Open showing.
Day 11: Mikhail Youzhny – The big-hitting Russian outlasted Stan Wawrinka in five sets, 3–6, 7–6(9–7), 3–6, 6–3, 6–3, to advance to the semifinals.
It was the Bryan's ninth grand slam men's doubles title for their careers, and the third US Open crown along with 2005 and 2008. This was Bob's 65th title of his career and the 67th title of Mike's career.
This was the pair of King and Shvedova second women's grand slam doubles title of the year and of their careers to go along with the 2010 Wimbledon crown. This was King's eleventh women's doubles title of her career and Shvedova's third career women's doubles victory.
This victory was the second joint title in a grand slam tournament for the pair of Huber and Bryan, which they won the 2009 French Open together. This was Huber's second mixed double slam, which all were won with Bob, but this was Bob Bryan seventh mixed doubles title for his career. This was the first US Open title for Huber in mixed doubles, but this was Bob's fourth mixed doubles title for his career to go along with titles in 2003, 2004, and 2006.
The Champions Invitational returned for the fifth year with 16 former Grand Slam tournament champions and finalists. It was a doubles only event for the first time, but employed the fan-friendly World TeamTennis format for the second consecutive year. Players were divided into four teams of four players each that were named after members of the US Open Court of Champions. All teams played two matches from Wednesday, September 8, through Saturday, September 11. For the first time, prize money was awarded to the competitors based on their team's order of finish.
The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. Seedings based on ATP and WTA rankings as of August 23, 2010. Rankings and points were before as of August 30, 2010.