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| ANA IVANOVIC SELFIE |
With reigning Australian Open champion Li Na withdrawing from the tournament due to a knee injury, the contenders and favorites in the women’s draw have a major threat cleared from their path before the first ball has been struck.
Top seed and two-time defending US Open champion Serena Williams remains the favorite to win again this year, but question marks have been raised after she exited at all three Grand Slam events this year in the opening week. Her draw will pose a few major challenges. There is a looming fourth-round encounter against No. 22 Samantha Stosur, who defeated her in the 2011 US Open final and pushed her two tiebreaks in Cincinnati, and a potential quarterfinal against No. 8 seed Ana Ivanovic. If she gets past that, either Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova or Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard likely awaits in the semis. Largely unknown a year ago, No. 2 seed Simona Halep enters this year's event as one of the favorites to win her first Grand Slam title, but a potential quarterfinal with No. 5 seed Maria Sharapova could spell trouble for the Romanian. She is winless against Sharapova in all five of their previous matches, three of which came in 2014. This year also offers an opportunity for players to cement their rise back up the rankings with a Grand Slam title, including former world No. 1s Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki. And while Kvitova has historically struggled at the US Open, she enters New York on a roll and has the game to beat anyone when she’s playing well. Throw in a rising group of young women, led by Bouchard and including such up-and-comers as Madison Keys and Garbine Muguruza, and Serena is hardly a lock for a record-tying sixth women's singles crown. Previewing the women’s field, here’s a look, broken down into favorites and challengers, at who might be lifting the women’s singles trophy in two weeks.
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