A look at some of the women to watch at the U.S. Open, which starts Sunday, with money-line odds via BetMGM Sportsbook:
Ranked: 1
Career-Best Ranking: 1
Country: Belarus
Age: 27
2025 Record: 50-10
2025 Titles: 3
Career Titles: 20
Grand Slam Titles: 3 — U.S. Open (1: 2024), Australian Open (2: 2023, 2024)
Last 5 U.S. Opens: 2024-Won Championship, 2023-Runner-Up, 2022-Lost in Semifinals, 2021-SF, 2020-2nd Round
Aces: Was last year's champion in New York. ... Began her U.S. Open career by going 5-3 in her first
three trips and is 23-3 since then, getting to the past two finals and the semifinals the two years before that. ... Was the runner-up at each of this season’s first two Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian Open and French Open, then bowed out at Wimbledon in the semifinals. ... Replaced Iga Swiatek at No. 1 late last season.
She Said It: “I mean, I know that I have to go for it. That’s the only way it works for me, because every time I’m trying to play safer ... I stop my arms, and the ball flies in the stands."
Read All About It: Aryna Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula in the 2024 U.S. Open final
Odds Are: +300
Ranked: 2
Career-Best Ranking: 1
Country: Poland
Age: 24
2025 Record: 49-12
2025 Titles: 2
Career Titles: 24
Grand Slam Titles: 6 — U.S. Open (1: 2022), French Open (4: 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024), Wimbledon (1: 2025)
Last 5 U.S. Opens: 2024-QF, 2023-4th, 2022-W, 2021-4th, 2020-3rd
Aces: Has won two of her past three tournaments after failing to reach a final anywhere for more than a year and returned to No. 2 in the rankings this week after sliding as low as No. 8. ... Those two recent titles came on fast surfaces: on grass at Wimbledon — where she improved to 6-0 in Grand Slam finals by winning there for the first time — and on hard courts at the Cincinnati Open on Monday. ... Her 11 WTA 1000 titles rank second to Serena Williams' 13 since 2009.
She Said It: “I came back to being my old kind of self."
Read All About It: Iga Swiatek won Wimbledon after a difficult year
Odds Are: +275
Ranked: 3
Career-Best Ranking: 2
Country: United States
Age: 21
2025 Record: 35-12
2025 Titles: 1
Career Titles: 10
Grand Slam Titles: 2 — U.S. Open (2023), French Open (2025)
Last 5 U.S. Opens: 2024-4th, 2023-W, 2022-QF, 2021-2nd, 2020-1st
Aces: Earned her second Grand Slam title at the French Open on red clay. The first came at the U.S. Open in 2023 while she was still a teenager. ... Last year's title defense at Flushing Meadows ended with a fourth-round loss to American Emma Navarro; Gauff double-faulted 19 times in that defeat. ... Gauff is coming off a first-round exit at Wimbledon in the last major.
She Said It: “I definitely learned a lot of what I would and would not do again."
Read All About It: Coco Gauff went from French Open champion to a quick Wimbledon exit
Odds Are: +600
Ranked: 4
Career-Best Ranking: 3
Country: United States
Age: 31
2025 Record: 37-16
2025 Titles: 3
Career Titles: 9
Grand Slam Titles: Zero — Best: Runner-Up, U.S. Open (2024)
Last 5 US Opens: 2024-Runner-Up, 2023-4th, 2022-QF, 2021-3rd, 2020-3rd
Aces: Had been 0-6 for her career in Grand Slam quarterfinals until a year ago at the U.S. Open, where she upset Swiatek at that stage en route to reaching her first major final. ... Won a title on every surface in 2025: hard, clay and grass courts. ... Has lost four of her past six matches.
She Said It: “I feel very up and down, kind of sloppy, which I don’t like."
Read All About It: Jessica Pegula beat Iga Swiatek at the 2024 U.S. Open
Odds Are: +1800
Ranked: 6
Career-Best Ranking: 5
Country: United States
Age: 30
2025 Record: 37-12
2025 Titles: 2
Career Titles: 10
Grand Slam Titles: 1 — Australian Open (2025)
Last 5 US Opens: 2024-3rd, 2023-SF, 2022-3rd, 2021-1st, 2020-3rd
Aces: Captured her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, upsetting Swiatek in the semifinals and Sabalenka in the final. ... Best career moments have come on hard courts, including a runner-up showing at the U.S. Open in 2017 and reaching the semifinals at Flushing Meadows two other times, in 2018 and 2023.
She Said It: “I went after it, every single point. And if I missed it and I just didn’t execute, I could live with that."
Read All About It: Madison Keys told herself to be brave on the way to winning the Australian Open
Odds Are: +1200
Ranked: 610
Career-Best Ranking: 1
Country: United States
Age: 45
2025 Record: 1-2
2025 Titles: Zero
Career Titles: 49
Grand Slam Titles: 7 — U.S. Open (2: 2000, 2001), Wimbledon (5: 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008)
Last 5 U.S. Opens: 2024-Did Not Play, 2023-1st, 2022-1st, 2021-DNP, 2020-1st
Aces: Hasn't played at a Grand Slam tournament since the U.S. Open two years ago. ... After 16 months away from the tour, Williams returned to action in July at Washington, winning one match in singles and one in doubles. ... She will be the oldest player to compete in singles at Flushing Meadows since 1981.
She Said It: "Just to be here at all is really a blessing, and then to play well is just another blessing."
Read All About It: A look at Venus Williams' career and comeback
Odds Are: Not listed
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
