2010 US Open: The Women

Two weeks ago, 256 of the greatest tennis players in the world converged upon the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens (a mere 3 miles from my home) to compete for the 2010 US Open Championship, one of four major tournaments that comprise the Grand Slam tennis tournament. On Saturday, Kim Clijsters captured the women’s championship with a win over Vera Zvonareva, becoming the first woman since Venus Williams in 2001 to successfully defend her title. Clijsters now has 21 consecutive US Open match victories, second all-time to Chris Evert’s 31. This afternoon, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will face each other for the men’s title. Check back tomorrow for a blog post about the men!

Maria Sharapova of Russia (2006 winner):

Venus Williams of the United States (2000 and 2001 winner):

Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (2004 winner):

Unseeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia surprised everyone by making it to the quarterfinals before losing to #1 seed Caroline Wozniacki:

Marion Bartoli, seeded 13th, exited early with a second round loss to fellow Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano:

Unseeded wild card entry American Beatrice Capra, ranked 371st in the world, expresses her shock upon defeating 20th-ranked Aravane Rezai of France in the second round:

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, seeded 4th, lost in the third round to Kaia Kanepi:

Maria Kirilenko of Russia defeats Yvonne Meusburger of Austria in the second round:

#1 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, had a strong tournament (seen here defeating Maria Sharapova), but missed her chance to return to the Finals by losing to Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals:

#2 seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium, seen here in the second round, won her second consecutive U.S. Open title: