Naomi Osaka secured a long-awaited victory over a top-10 opponent after dispatching Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open on Tuesday.

World number 88 Osaka scored a 6-3 6-2 victory against Ostapenko for her first top-10 win in four-and-a-half years.

Osaka has now won 23 of her 28 matches at the US Open, at an 82% win ratio, which only Bianca Andreescu (86%) can better among current players with 10 or more main-draw matches at the tournament.

The four-time major winner was reduced to tears after downing the 10th seed in New York.

"I was trying not to cry when I was walking out too," Osaka said in her on-court interview. "I remember last year I was watching Coco [Gauff] play and I so badly wanted to step on these courts again and I didn't know if I could.

"I didn't know athletically, physically if I was able to. Just to win this match and just to be in this atmosphere means so much to me, so thank you."

Osaka, who won 39 of her 50 service points and held her serve throughout, needed three match points to move into the second round.

"I mean it was stressful, she was hitting some really good shots and I just told myself like, keep going, keep fighting for every point and maybe you'll have an opportunity," she added. 

"Eventually I did but then I looked up and then I saw so many faces so I was like, woah."

The unseeded Karolina Muchova awaits on Thursday for the Japanese star after her first-round triumph.

Iga Swiatek moved into the US Open second round after holding off a spirited Kamilla Rakhimova for a straight-sets win on Tuesday.

Lucky loser Rakhimova came close to forcing a decider, but the world number one rallied to win 6-4 7-6 (8-6) in just under two hours.

The early stages of the match suggested it would be a one-sided rout as Swiatek got two early breaks to race into a 4-0 lead, but Rakhimova clawed it back to 4-3 before the Pole dug in to take the set.

A similar story followed in the second set, though the world number 104 was unable to close out the victory after edging in front at 5-4, with Swiatek forcing a tie-break.

Swiatek then saved a triple set point from 6-3 down, winning the final five points to avoid an early upset and set up a meeting with either Daria Saville or Ena Shibahara in the next round.

Data Debrief: Swiatek tries her luck

It could have been a much different story for Swiatek had Rakhimova been able to hold her nerve in the tie-break, but as such, the 2022 winner stays in the tournament.

She is now the fifth-youngest player in the Open Era to win the first round in 20 consecutive women's singles grand slam events.

Meanwhile, only Serena Williams (93) and Venus Williams (94) have made 80 women's singles grand slam wins in fewer matches than Swiatek (97) this century.

Aryna Sabalenka made light work of Priscilla Hon to kick-start her US Open campaign in confident fashion on Sunday.

Sabalenka, who reached the final last year before losing out to Coco Gauff, did not face one break point in the first set and recovered from an indifferent start to the second to stroll into the second round with a 6-3 6-3 victory.

The Belarusian has won the last 12 sets she has played following on from her victory at the Cincinnati Masters, and this was her 40th Tour-level win this year.

Sabalenka will face Italy's Lucia Bronzetti in the second round on Wednesday.

Data debrief: Sabalenka keeps up hard-court form

This was Sabalenka's 24th WTA-level victory on hard courts this year.

Only two players have recorded more victories on the surface in 2024 - Emma Navarro (26) and world number one Iga Swiatek (25).

Defending champion Coco Gauff stormed into the second round of the US Open with a comfortable straight-sets win over Varvara Gracheva on Monday.

The 20-year-old only needed 67 minutes to see off the Frenchwoman 6-2 6-0 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Gracheva started brightly, serving to love in the first game and twice came close to breaking Gauff's serve in the second before the American finally found her footing.

Gauff got two breaks shortly after, going on a three-game winning run to take the first set.

She was in cruise control in the second though, comfortably seeing off Gracheva without dropping a game as she set up a second-round meeting with Tatiana Maria.

Elsewhere, Olympic gold medallist Qinwen Zheng had to come from behind to beat Amanda Anisimova.

After losing the first set, the seventh seed rallied to win 4-6 6-4 6-2, gaining control of the match in the decider to book a place in the next round.  

Data Debrief: Gauff sends out statement

Gauff won her first grand slam title at Flushing Meadows last year, becoming the first American teenager to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999.

And she is now the youngest player to register eight consecutive wins at the tournament since Maria Sharapova who won nine between 2006-07.

Gauff is also the youngest player to secure 15 women's singles wins at the US Open since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.

Emma Raducanu says she is always ready to "do things a little bit differently" as she prepares for the US Open.

The 21-year-old is set to play just her second match at Flushing Meadows since winning the grand slam as a teenage qualifier in 2021.

She will face American Sofia Kenin in the first round, with Jessica Pegula a potential second-round opponent if she gets through.

Raducanu has only played one tournament since being knocked out in the fourth round at Wimbledon, opting to miss the Olympics, as she continues to ease herself back into regular action after her long injury lay-off.

She reached the quarter-finals in Washington, going out to eventual champion Paula Badosa, but chose not to play in Toronto before deciding against qualifying for Cincinnati.

"I really wanted to play in Toronto, especially because I was born there, but the turnaround was too tight for qualifying," she told BBC Sport.

"I would have had to play on Sunday, and I finished [in Washington] late Friday night, so flying there and adjusting, I just felt was too tight.

"Otherwise, I just always do things a little bit differently.

"[In Cincinnati] I would have pretty much had to wait around just for one tournament in qualies and then another week off before the US Open - so I think it was a better decision we all made to just go back and work on things there."

Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka is hoping familiar surroundings will help to boost her confidence after a tough run in 2024.

Since returning from a 15-month maternity break in January, Osaka has struggled to recapture her top form, and in her most recent outing in Cincinnati, she was knocked out in the second round of qualifying.

Having won the US Open in 2018 and 2020, the 26-year-old believes being back in the city she grew up in will help her find her footing.

"I feel like, throughout the year, I have had really hard matches, and it kind of dipped my confidence a little," Osaka told reporters on Saturday.

"I do think coming to this specific tournament helps me out. But also, whenever I step foot here, I don't really think about the two tournaments I won.

"I just think about how I felt when I was a kid, because I did grow up coming here, and I have such vivid memories of watching my favourite players. It's more of a childhood nostalgia that I really enjoy."

The final grand slam of the season is already upon us, with the US Open getting going on Monday.

Flushing Meadows will welcome the best and brightest as they aim to light up New York City, where home favourite Coco Gauff will be the defending women's singles champion.

She clinched her maiden major title at Arthur Ashe Stadium last year, overcoming Aryna Sabalenka 2-6 6-3 6-2.

Gauff will be the third seed at this year's tournament, with Sabalenka second and world number one – the fearsome Iga Swiatek – rated as the favourite.

With the help of Opta data, we look into the likely challengers for this year's title.

Will Swiatek cap stellar year?

Swiatek has won 55 matches in 2024, which is the most of any player on the WTA Tour. She also has the longest winning streak in Tour-level events this season, too, having reeled off 21 straight victories.

The all-conquering Pole has won six Tour-level events this term – the United Cup, Qatar Open, Indian Wells Open, Madrid Open, Italian Open and French Open. Unsurprisingly, Swiatek also has the best win percentage of any player across 2024 (88.7%, having lost just seven of her 62 matches).

Swiatek – who clinched bronze at the Paris Olympics – has won all six finals she has been involved in this term, becoming the third player this century after the Williams sisters to triumph in their first six finals of a season across multiple years (2022 and 2024).

The 23-year-old holds a record of 79-17 at grand slams, and the best winning percentage of any active player (82.3%). Among players to have started their career in the Open Era, only six players could achieve 80 wins in fewer major matches than Swiatek (97) – Monica Seles (86), Chris Evert (89), Martina Hingis (92), Serena Williams, Steffi Graf (93 each) and Venus Williams (94).

She will face qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round. Swiatek has won in straight sets in all her previous eight matches against qualifiers or lucky losers, while she is also undefeated in her five first-round ties at the US Open.

In fact, the last time Swiatek lost in the opening match of an event was at the WTA Finals 2021 in Guadalajara. She has played 48 tournaments since then without ever falling at the first hurdle (United Cup and Olympics included). 

Among current players with 10+ main draw matches played at the US Open, only Bianca Andreescu (85.7%) and Naomi Osaka (81.5%) have a higher winning percentage at Flushing Meadows than Swiatek (80.0%).

Sabalenka on song

Swiatek and Sabalenka tussled on the clay courts earlier in the season, but the latter has endured a difficult summer swing and had to skip the Olympics.

But she returned to form at the Cincinnati Open, triumphing over Jessica Pegula to claim her second title of the season.

Her first was the Australian Open, and that means Sabalenka could become the first woman to win both hard-court grand slams in the same year since Angelique Kerber in 2016. Indeed, since the Australian Open switched to hard court in 1988, the Belarusian could be the fifth woman to reach both hard-court major finals in successive seasons after Graf (1988-90, 1993-94), Seles (1991-92), Hingis (1997-99) and Victoria Azarenka (2012-13).

Like Swiatek, Sabalenka will take on a qualifier (Priscilla Hon) in round one. She won her previous meeting with Hon, back in Mumbai in 2017. The top two seeds will both face qualifiers in the first round of a grand slam for the first time since the Australian Open 1996 (Seles and Conchita Martinez).

Sabalenka is undefeated in her six first-round ties at Flushing Meadows, while she is aiming to be the fourth player in the Open Era to win the title in Cincinnati and New York in the same season, with Gauff having done just that last year.

Only Swiatek (25) and Emma Navarro (24) have won more hard-court matches than Sabalenka in 2024 (23), while the previous season's runner-up at the US Open has only lost in the first round on one occasion in the Open Era (Pam Shriver in 1979).

Gauff and Pegula the fan favourites

The Olympics ultimately ended in tears and frustration for Gauff, and after reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open and French Open, her season is somewhat threatening to peter out. Indeed, her only title this year came in the first tournament of the campaign, in Auckland.

Yet as one of four American players since 2000 to win the singles title at the US Open, she will be fiercely determined to retain her crown at Flushing Meadows and will be backed by vociferous home support.

The world number three is not the only home favourite in with a firm chance, though.

Pegula won nine successive main-draw matches, equalling her longest career winning streak, across her campaigns at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open, before losing to Sabalenka in the final of the latter tournament.

The sixth seed could become only the fourth player in the Open Era to reach the singles finals at the Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open and US Open in a season after Rosemary Casals (1970), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1973) and Serena Williams (2013).

The other contenders

Emma Raducanu has not had quite the hard-court swing she would have liked, but the youngster triumphed in New York as a teenager back in 2021, and will be one to keep an eye on.

Jasmine Paolini heads to Flushing Meadows fresh from claiming Olympic gold at Roland-Garros, where she also reached the French Open final earlier this year. The Italian has both hit the most winners (409) and converted the most break points (80) in singles matches at grand slams in 2024.

She will go up against 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu in round one, making the duo the first players to face each other in the women's singles at Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows in the same season since Serena Williams and Justine Henin in 2007.

Elena Rybakina, meanwhile, has served the most aces (85) at majors this year.

Then there is two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka. She will go up against Jelena Ostapenko, and combined with Sofia Kenin taking on Raducanu, it makes this tournament the first time that two former grand slam winners are taking each other on in first-round ties in New York since 2019.

Carlos Alcaraz will begin his bid for a third straight grand slam success against a qualifier at the US Open, while top seed Jannik Sinner will face Mackenzie McDonald in the first round.

Alcaraz won his fourth major title at Wimbledon in July, dominating Novak Djokovic in the final after also triumphing at the 2022 US Open, Wimbledon in 2023 and the French Open earlier this year.

Should the Spaniard progress through his first-round match, he could take on Botic van de Zandschulp in round two and Britain's Jack Draper in the third round.

Seeded third, Alcaraz could face world number one Sinner in the semi-finals, with the Italian starting his campaign against a home favourite in McDonald.

Sinner recently avoided a ban after twice testing positive for banned substance clostebol, with an independent tribunal finding he was inadvertently given the steroid in an over-the-counter spray by his physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi.

On the other side of the men's draw, Djokovic will also start against a qualifier as he bids to finally surpass Margaret Court's overall record of 24 grand slam titles.

Djokovic won his 24th major crown at the 2023 tournament at Flushing Meadows, beating Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in the final.

He has struggled to find top gear at this year's grand slams, though he did claim his first Olympic gold medal by beating Alcaraz in the showpiece match at Roland-Garros.

In the women's draw, top seed Iga Swiatek will start against a qualifier while Coco Gauff will open her title defence by taking on Varvara Gracheva, with a testing third-round date with Elina Svitolina potentially on the cards for the third-seeded American.

Aryna Sabalenka joins Swiatek in facing a qualifier first, while there is a tricky draw for 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu, who is set for her first Flushing Meadows appearance since 2022.

She will take on the United States' 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin, with the victor set to face another American in round two, in either Shelby Rogers or sixth seed Jessica Pegula. 

The first round of the US Open begins on Monday, with the women's singles final set for September 7 and the men's showpiece match taking place one day later.

Aryna Sabalenka outclassed Jessica Pegula 6-3 7-5 to win the Cincinnati Open final on Monday.

The now world number two earned a first title since winning the Australian Open for a second time in January with a convincing performance against the sixth seed.

Sabalenka lost only four first-set points and served over 70 per cent of first serves ien route to taking the opener and broke at the first time of asking in the second before holding to love to consolidate.

Pegula would level up to make it 5-5 but Sabalenka broke for a third time to secure an advantage she would not relinquish, finishing the match with 29 winners - including 10 aces - to 23 unforced errors.

Victory marks a 15th career WTA title for Sabalenka and a sixth WTA 1000-level trophy.

Pegula sees a nine-match winning streak come to an end with defeat in the show-piece match, and also saw her hopes of becoming the first woman in over 50 years to take out the title in Canada and Cincinnati in a single season go up in smoke.

Data Debrief: Sabalenka sizzles again in Cincinnati

Sabalenka now has 18 wins at the Cincinnati Open. It represents her most in a single WTA 1000 event, beating Madrid (17). Only at the Australian Open (22) and US Open (21) does she have more in WTA tournaments.

Moreover, she now has 100 victories from 143 WTA 1000 events, becoming the fastest to rack up the landmark since Simona Halep in 2017 (100 wins from 141 such matches).

She also becomes the third player since 2004 to win the title in Cincinnati without dropping a single set, with Vera Zvonareva in 2006 and Ashleigh Barty in 2021 the others to have done so.

Jessica Pegula knows she can take nothing for granted when she goes up against Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the Cincinnati Open on Monday.

Pegula recently won her third career WTA 1000 title at the Canadian Open in Toronto, with all three of those triumphs having come on hard courts.

She equalled her longest career winning streak of nine matches by defeating Paula Badosa 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the semi-finals to reach the final in Cincinnati.

In doing so, Pegula became the sixth player in the Open Era to reach the finals at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open in a calendar year, joining Rosie Casals, Evonne Goolagong, Na Li, Serena Williams and Simona Halep in achieving the feat.

When asked if she was "in the zone", Pegula said: "I think I'm just finding my game a little bit and then competing and being smart out there."

The American, however, will not be complacent when she goes up against world number three Sabalenka.

The Belarusian defeated world number one Iga Swiatek in straight sets to reach the final.

"It seems like she's been playing really, really good," Pegula told the media.

"Obviously she can serve really big, so it's always tough to deal with opponents that have weapons like that, where they can get a lot of free points on a faster hard court."

Aryna Sabalenka said her semi-final victory over Iga Swiatek at the Cincinnati Open is firmly in the past as she looks towards ending her US Open preparations with a title.

Sabalenka, who has reached her fifth Tour-level final of the year, triumphed in straight sets over Swiatek to set up a showdown with Jessica Pegula in Ohio.

The Belarusian had lost her last three matches against Swiatek, but snapped that run to reach her first Cincinnati Open final at the fourth attempt. 

"It was a brilliant performance from me. But I just want to focus on staying in the moment and giving my best tennis every time I'm on the court," Sabalenka said. 

"I try to stay calm, confident and aggressive on the court. That definitely gave me a lot of confidence, going into the US Open.

"But that's already in the past, if I focus on this win, it'll stay in the past. I'm really happy with the win."

Having taken a 5-1 lead, Sabalenka saw seven match points saved by Swiatek in the seventh game, squandering two more shortly after as the Pole threatened to produce an unlikely turnaround. 

But Sabalenka was able to get over the line at the 10th attempt, saying that period was the toughest moment of the encounter. 

"I kept telling myself 'she's the world number one, she's going to keep fighting and doing her best'," Sabalenka said.

"You have to stay aggressive. You have to put pressure on her.

"You have to play your tennis and try. That was my mentality in the tough moments.

"That was definitely the toughest moment of the match. When I'm in the zone, what thoughts do I have? There are no thoughts. Just about the tennis.

"About the next ball coming. Just about hitting and trying to make the right decisions. You have nothing in your head."

Jessica Pegula will face Aryna Sabalenka in the Cincinnati Open final after battling past Paula Badosa.

World number six Pegula was made to wait for victory after a lengthy rain delay, eventually triumphing 6-2 3-6 6-3 on Sunday.

Sabalenka, the world number three, awaits in the showpiece after clinching a straight-sets victory over Iga Swiatek.

The 30-year-old Pegula raced out the blocks, breaking twice to snatch a 4-0 lead, despite requiring three break points to deal the second blow to Badosa.

Pegula did not look back from there, wrapping up the opener in 38 minutes before the match was paused with the score level midway through the second set.

Badosa utilised that prolonged stoppage to bounce back, taking both break chances to send the semi-final to a decider.

Yet Pegula held her nerve, staving off four break points to hold out for a 2-1 third-set lead before Badosa faltered on her own serve to fall to defeat in just under two hours.

Data Debrief: Pegula matches career-high

Straight off the back of her Canadian Open triumph, Pegula is in red-hot form heading into the final against Sabalenka, aiming for back-to-back WTA 1000 event triumphs.

The six-time major quarter-finalist has now won her last nine matches across WTA Tour outings, matching her previous career-best streak. Pegula is the sixth player in the Open Era to reach the finals at the Canadian and Cincinnati Open in a calendar year after Rosie Casals, Evonne Goolagong, Na Li, Serena Williams and Simona Halep.

Badosa continues to wait for her maiden victory over Pegula, while the Spaniard is also without a top-10 win on the hard courts since beating Barbora Krejcikova two years ago in Sydney.

Aryna Sabalenka reached the Cincinnati Open final for the first time by toppling Iga Swiatek, clinching an impressive 6-3 6-3 victory over the world number one.

Sabalenka needed one hour and 48 minutes to beat Swiatek and book a final meeting with either Jessica Pegula or Paula Badosa.

The Belarusian entered Saturday's heavyweight clash having lost on all three of her previous semi-final appearances at Cincinnati, falling short of the showpiece match in 2018, 2022 and 2023.

However, she produced a fine performance to end that hoodoo on Sunday, preying on a below-par showing from Swiatek, who won just six of 30 points on her second serve throughout.

Sabalenka made her intentions clear by breaking to love in the second game of the encounter, and though Swiatek hit straight back, another break in the sixth game was enough to hand her the opening set.

Both players were tested on their own serve in the second set, with Sabalenka saving four of five break points faced while converting three of 13 she generated on Swiatek's serve.

Swiatek saved a remarkable 10 match points, eight of them against her own serve, as Sabalenka was forced to clinch her victory the hard way, but a fifth break of the match finally got her over the line.

Sabalenka has now made five WTA Tour-level finals in 2024, the joint-most alongside Swiatek and Elena Rybakina.

Data Debrief: Another big scalp for Sabalenka

Sabalenka's victory was her fourth over a world number one at WTA 1000-level events since the format's 2009 introduction, the joint-most of any player alongside Petra Kvitova.

She has now reached a total of 29 WTA Tour-level finals, the most of any player on the tour since 2017 (Swiatek is second with 26).

Jannik Sinner reached the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open with a hard-fought 4-6 7-5 6-4 victory over Andrey Rublev, avenging last week's defeat to the Russian in Montreal.

Sinner was eliminated from the Canadian Open by Rublev at his last tournament, having missed the Paris Olympic Games due to a bout of tonsillitis.

He fought back from a set down to avoid a repeat in blustery conditions in Ohio on Saturday, having looked to be in trouble when he faced two break points at a set down.

The world number one saved both of those points before recovering from an awkward fall to win a 26-shot rally at 4-4, ultimately serving out the second set at the second opportunity.

Sinner then held off something of a third-set resurgence from Rublev to seal a gruelling two-hour, 25-minute victory, before expressing pride at the way he responded to adversity.

"It took a lot of mental strength today," Sinner said after his win. "It was very tough conditions, very windy. 

"In the first set he started very well and I didn't play my best tennis but in the second set, I felt I had a lot of chances. I waited for my chance. I am very happy to make the semis."

Meanwhile, Aryna Sabalenka teed up a heavyweight semi-final clash with Iga Swiatek in the women's draw, easing to a 6-3 6-2 victory over Liudmila Samsonova.

Sabalenka needed just one hour and 19 minutes to seal her win, reeling off 10 of the last 13 games to level her all-time head-to-head record with Samsonova at 2-2.

Data Debrief: Sabalenka joins exclusive club

Sabalenka is into her fourth semi-final at the Cincinnati Open, a joint-record at the competition among WTA players in the Open Era.

Jelena Jankovic, Serena Williams and Simona Halep are the only other women to achieve that feat.

Aryna Sabalenka has reached the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals for the fourth time after rallying to a straight-sets victory over Elina Svitolina.

The Belarusian took just 79 minutes to seal the victory, seeing off her opponent 7-5 6-2 on Friday.

Sabalenka made a quick start, earning a break in the first game, but was pushed all the way in the opening set, as Svitolina fought back to tie them level at 5-5.

Another break then set the number three seed up to take the set before she asserted her dominance by winning the final four games in a row to advance to the last eight.

She will face Liudmila Samsonova as she attempts to reach the semi-finals of the tournament for the third straight year.

Data Debrief: Four is the magic number

Only Jelena Jankovic (seven), Simona Halep (six) and Serena Williams (five) have made more quarter-finals than Sabalenka (four) in Cincinnati in the Open Era.

The 26-year-old now boasts 22 career WTA 1000 quarter-finals, tied for most among active players with Karolina Pliskova.

Throughout Friday's match, Sabalenka saved four of the five break points she faced in the match while going 4-for-4 on her own break points against Svitolina's serve.

Iga Swiatek continued her preparations for the US Open in style as she cruised to a straight-sets victory over Marta Kostyuk at the Cincinnati Open. 

The Pole needed just 69 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals of the competition, earning a 6-2 6-2 victory after rain delayed the start of play in Ohio. 

Swiatek started the encounter as it meant to go on, earning a break point in the third game which proved decisive as she made her mark on proceedings early on. 

Despite the best efforts of the Ukrainian, the world number one strolled to within a set of victory after winning 73% of her first-serve points. 

Kostyuk simply had no reply to her Polish opponents' dominant service game, finding herself 3-0 down in double quick time in the second. 

Swiatek would drop just six points in the final three games, concluding the encounter with a love game to set up a tie against the winner of Mirra Andreeva and Jasmine Paolini on Saturday. 

Data Debrief: Swiatek replicates winning streak

Since Swiatek’s debut on Tour in 2019, only two players have won 14+ consecutive WTA-1000 main draw matches, those being the Pole herself in 2022 (23, Doha - Toronto) and again this year (14, current streak). 

Only Agnieszka Radwanska (14, between 2012 and 2013) has made more WTA-1000 quarter-finals in consecutive seasons than the Pole in 2023-2024 (13) since the format’s introduction in 2009.