Past US Open champs Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Venus Williams highlight the field

By Canadian Press on August 21, 2025.

A look at some of the women to watch at the U.S. Open, which starts Sunday, with money-line odds via BetMGM Sportsbook:

Aryna Sabalenka

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

Iga Swiatek

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

Coco Gauff

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

Jessica Pegula

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

Madison Keys

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

Venus Williams

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

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press

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