Sunday 27 August 2017 22:42, UK
Who is going to challenge at the US Open? Who will finish the fortnight as world No 1? Can anyone break their Grand Slam duck? We look at five questions in the women's draw heading into New York…
Given she had not won a tournament in the previous 13 months, it was something of a surprise when Garbine Muguruza won Wimbledon this year. But her form since suggests she is trending in the right direction heading into the US Open.
A semi-final run in Stanford and then quarter-finals in Toronto was followed by victory in Cincinnati, with wins over Madison Keys, Svetlana Kuznetsova, world No 1 Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep helping secure the title. Against Keys, who had won their last meeting in straight sets in Stanford, Muguruza staved off three match points to progress, while Pliskova and Halep were dispatched for the loss of just six combined games.
"The American swing was never going my way," she said after winning in Cincinnati. "Finally, this year, I improved that. I'm looking forward to being there [in New York] and feel I can improve on what has happened the past years, because I feel like I never really found my rhythm. I want to change that."
While the momentum appears to be with the world No 3, she has not fared well at the US Open in recent years, failing to make it past the second round in four appearances. Can she make a run this year? She says she is trying not to have too many expectations.
"Every time I have a little bit, it holds me a little bit back. I'm just going to go out there from zero. Forget about what happened previous years. It's a new tournament."
Simona Halep has been one of the most consistent players on tour in recent years, winning three titles in each of 2015 and 2016 and one so far this season. A Grand Slam title has evaded her, though. She has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open and twice made the final at the French Open.
Her defeat to Jelena Ostapenko in the final of the French Open this year - when she led by a set and 3-0 - was one of three times in 2017 that she has played for the No 1 ranking. The second occasion came at Wimbledon when she lost to Johanna Konta in the quarter-finals and the third was in Cincinnati when she was dismantled 6-1 6-0 by Muguruza in the final.
Halep's coach, Darren Cahill, told ESPN after the loss in Cincinnati: "There's still a little leftover residue from Paris. It takes some time to get over that."
Considering how much confidence plays a part in Halep's game, if she cannot put two tough-to-take Grand Slam defeats completely behind her then it is difficult to see her succeeding in New York. However, after making the quarter-finals and semi-finals at the US Open over the last two years, perhaps this will be the year that Halep gets over the line.
After her memorable run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, Johanna Konta will be looking to go one better in New York. The world No 7's game is well-suited to hard courts, even if she lost her first match in Toronto earlier this month before a quarter-final defeat to Halep in Cincinnati.
Both of her titles this year, in Sydney and Miami, have been on hard courts, and American legend Billie Jean King thinks Konta will "do damage" at the US Open.
"She is on the cusp of winning big. She knows it," King is quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror. "There is no reason she can't have a great second half of the year. The Wimbledon semi-final defeat could be a springboard into the future for her if she uses the experience well…I think that match, even though she lost, could be a huge, huge turning point."
Konta's Grand Slam breakthrough came at the US Open two years ago when she came through qualifying and then beat Muguruza and Andrea Petkovic to reach the fourth round. She reached the same stage last year and, if she can recreate the form she showed at Wimbledon, there is no reason why she should not be a challenger in New York.
One of the most successful players on tour over the last year, Karolina Pliskova was crowned world No 1 at Wimbledon despite a second-round exit. Since winning her first Premier title in Cincinnati last year, Pliskova has won three more tournaments in Brisbane, Doha and Eastbourne, but, like Halep, a major has eluded her.
She lost a memorable three-set final at the 2016 US Open to Angelique Kerber after beating both Venus and Serena Williams, and this year has made the Australian Open quarter-finals and French Open semi-finals to set herself up for world No 1 despite another early Wimbledon loss.
Her No 1 ranking will be on the line in New York, with anything other than a run to the final seeing her lose top spot. But if Pliskova's powerful game is firing on all cylinders, particularly her serve - from which she has fired down a tour-leading 348 aces this season - then she will be a match for anyone.
When Maria Sharapova returned from a 15-month ban in April there were some who expected her to hit the ground running and quickly start to climb the rankings, but it has not turned out that way.
She performed well on her immediate return at Stuttgart, reaching the semi-finals without dropping a set and then losing to Kristina Mladenovic in a tight contest. That, though, is her best performance to date and, as she goes into her first Grand Slam in 18 months, she does so only having played nine matches since April.
Sharapova won the US Open in 2006 and enters this year as a wild-card, ranked 148th in the world. On form alone she should probably not be expected to go far in New York, especially as she pulled out of Stanford and Cincinnati with an arm injury, but she is in a determined mood.
"Though these last two years have been tougher, so much tougher than I ever could have anticipated, my passion for the game has never wavered," she told the Players' Tribune. "If anything, it has only grown stronger."
Sharapova's last appearance at the US Open was in 2014 when she reached the fourth round.
Serena Williams might be missing the tournament as she is pregnant, but the name 'Williams' could still be on the trophy in two weeks' time. Venus Williams, 37, has reached two Grand Slam finals this year and is a two-time champion in New York.
Since losing to Muguruza in the Wimbledon final she made the last 16 in Toronto and then lost her second match in Cincinnati. Williams says she doesn't feel the pressure to win the US Open: "Not really, but I want to. I want to win every match. The aim is to get out there and be better every single time."
Madison Keys has been touted as the next American star after the Williams sisters, but she is yet to truly break through, especially in New York, where she has lost in the fourth round the last two years.
The 22-year-old has enjoyed a positive summer on home courts, though, winning in Stanford before losing to Muguruza in Cincinnati after holding three match points. "I'm playing really good tennis," she acknowledged after the defeat to Muguruza. "Even today was a really good match and great momentum going into the Open."
Coco Vandeweghe (20) and Lauren Davis (32) are the only other seeded American women.
Sky Sports Tennis will have all the action from the US Open covered via our website www.skysports.com/tennis with our live blogs and updates throughout the fortnight as the Grand Slam year reaches its climax.
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