The fourth and final tennis Grand Slam of 2026 begins Sunday, August 30 from the hard courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City. There is no runaway favorite on the women's side, but two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka is the top seed and the player to beat. Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek have each claimed this title once, and they each won one of the hard-court WTA 1000 events leading up to the US Open. They and the rest of the deep women's field will be trying to prevent Sabalenka from notching the first US Open threepeat since Serena Williams did it in 2012 through 2014.
Before we get to the favorites, contenders and sleepers at the US Open, let's acknowledge some notable injuries and absences. Victoria Mboko (knee), Marketa Vondrousova (suspension), Emma Raducanu (foot), Hailey Baptiste (knee) and Veronika Kudermetova (undisclosed) are currently sidelined. Serena Williams (knee) also won't participate in singles here after making her brief return to the WTA Tour at Wimbledon. A few prominent players whose status was up in the air due to recent injury scares are listed in the draw and seemingly plan to participate. That list includes Elena Rybakina, Karolina Muchova, Elina Svitolina, Belinda Bencic and Jasmine Paolini.
Nine WTA players have title odds of +1800 or shorter, including three Americans. After each player's name below, you will see their title odds from DraftKings Sportsbook. Other best sports betting sites for betting both tennis futures and individual matches include FanDuel Sportsbook, BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook. Tennis Odds & Lines can vary quite substantially, especially for long shots, so you are encouraged to shop around for the best lines if you have access to multiple sports betting apps. We offer exclusive sportsbook promos in states where sports betting has gone live.
US Open WTA Picks
The Favorite for the 2026 US Open
Aryna Sabalenka (+330) - Sabalenka has won the last two US Opens and has played in the final of all seven hard-court Grand Slams since the start of 2023. The last time she lost before the semifinals at the US Open was back in 2020. So, why is the world No. 1 such a significant underdog against the field here? The answer is Sabalenka's recent form. After starting the season in her usual dominant hard-court fashion with a 23-1 record, Sabalenka has stumbled recently on her favorite surface, losing in the Round of 16 at both the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open to Ekaterina Alexandrova and Sara Bejlek, respectively. Her draw here is also on the tricky side. Sabalenka could face two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova in the third round, and chalk fourth-round opponent Diana Shnaiderbageled Sabalenka in the third set of their French Open quarterfinal to kick off the top-ranked Belarusian's current tailspin. Linda Noskova or Marta Kostyuk would present a substantial quarterfinal test, while potential semifinal opponents include Jessica Pegula, Karolina Muchova and Elina Svitolina. On the bright side, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek both landed in the bottom half of the draw with No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina.
In the Mix for the 2026 US Open
Coco Gauff (+450) - When Gauff won the US Open in 2023, she came in riding high off a WTA 1000 title in Cincinnati. The fourth-seeded American enters this year's event having won Cincinnati for a second time, giving her plenty of momentum to go with her customary crowd support in New York. Gauff has gone just 13-6 in six other US Open main-draw appearances besides her 2023 triumph, and she faces a difficult early draw. Possible second-round opponents Paula Badosa and Daria Kasatkina are both former top-10 players, and potential third-round foe Bejlek is coming off a Cincinnati semifinal, though Gauff is the one that defeated the 20-year-old Czech at that point. Gauff could face Iva Jovic or Alex Eala in the Round of 16, then Mirra Andreeva or Amanda Anisimova in the quarterfinals. Rybakina, Swiatek or Osaka could loom in the semifinals, giving Gauff arguably the toughest overall draw among the top title contenders.
Iga Swiatek (+550) - Swiatek has struggled for much of the season but found her game in August, winning the Canadian Open and reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati. The No. 8 seed has won six Grand Slam titles and spent 125 weeks at No. 1 in the world, so it's easy to forget that Swiatek's still only 25. If Iga has indeed gotten out of her recent rut, she'll certainly be in contention to add another US Open title to her 2022 victory here. She should cruise into the Round of 16 before the degree of difficulty spikes significantly against Belinda Bencic or Madison Keys. From there, Swiatek could face Rybakina or Osaka in the quarterfinals, then Gauff, Andreeva or Anisimova in the semifinals. If Swiatek makes it to the final, she has a strong chance of closing the deal given her 26-5 career record in championship matches, including 6-0 in Grand Slam finals.
Jessica Pegula (+1000) - Much like her family's football team, the Bills, Pegula's Grand Slam history is littered with close calls that have come up just short. The world No. 3 has seven quarterfinal losses, two semifinal defeats and one runner-up finish at the majors, reaching the final here in 2024 and the semis last year. She just beat Anisimova and Swiatek in Cincinnati before losing to Gauff in the final, so Pegula's in good form coming in, but questions will continue to swirl over her ability to beat other top players on the biggest stage until she shuts down that discussion by winning a major. The Buffalo, NY native feels right at home downstate and is one of four players with a mathematical chance to hold the world No. 1 ranking by the end of this tournament, along with Sabalenka, Rybakina and Gauff. Pegula's favored to reach the semis again, with Sorana Cirstea/Jasmine Paolini, then Muchova/Svitolina on her path in the Round of 16 and quarterfinals, respectively, but Pegula would be the clear underdog in a potential SF against Sabalenka, who eliminated Pegula from the past two US Opens and holds a 9-4 overall head-to-head edge.
Naomi Osaka (+1000) - Osaka seems a bit miscast among the top contenders, though she reached the semifinals here last year. Prior to then, Osaka hadn't been past the third round of a Grand Slam since she won the 2021 Australian Open. The 2018 and 2020 US Open champion is coming off a career-best quarterfinal result at Wimbledon, but Osaka's hard-court results in the leadup to this tournament have been nothing special, as she has gone 5-2 since Wimbledon, with her best win over that span coming against 24th-ranked Elise Mertens. Seeded 13th here, Osaka could face Mertens again in the third round, then a gauntlet of Rybakina, Swiatek, Gauff and Sabalenka consecutively from the Round of 16 onward.
Elena Rybakina (+1100) - Rybakina has a great chance of finishing this tournament with the No. 1 ranking, as she either needs to reach the semifinal or just have anyone other than Sabalenka, Pegula or Gauff win the tournament. The No. 2 seed has been elite on hard courts all year, having won this year's other hard-court Grand Slam at the Australian Open, but Rybakina has major questions regarding her health heading into this tournament after she retired in her Aug. 20 Cincinnati Open quarterfinal against Swiatek with what looked like an Achilles injury. Just over a week later, Rybakina appears healthy enough to give it a go. A fully healthy Rybakina would be right up there with Sabalenka among the favorites here, even with the possibility of facing Osaka, Swiatek, Gauff and Sabalenka consecutively.
Mirra Andreeva (+1400), Amanda Anisimova (+1600) and Marta Kostyuk (+1800) make up the highly intriguing next tier of contenders. The 19-year-old Andreeva won the French Open this year and claimed a pair of hard-court WTA 1000 titles last year. She's just 4-3 in her career at the US Open but is likely to step things up this year as the No. 5 seed. Andreeva's on a fourth-round collision course with the 10th-seeded Anisimova, who has underwhelmed for much of 2026 while battling a wrist injury earlier in the year and the weight of added expectations after reaching the final of both Wimbledon and the US Open last year. The 24-year-old American seemed to flip the switch mentally in Cincinnati, keeping her cool after a 1/9 start on break points and converting her last four break chances to defeat Alexandra Eala before knocking off Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova and pushing Pegula to a third-set tiebreak. Anisimova is one of the WTA's cleanest ball-strikers and can go toe-to-toe with anybody when she's in the right headspace. Speaking of flipping the switch, Kostyuk has done just that since the start of April, with a 26-4 record in her last 30 matches to climb to a career-high ranking of No. 11. Kostyuk could face Sabalenka in the quarterfinals if the 24-year-old Ukrainian gets by the sixth-seeded Noskova.
Alexandra Eala (+2800), Linda Noskova (+3000), Karolina Muchova (+3000), Belinda Bencic (+3500) and Elina Svitolina (+4000) are fringe title contenders. The super-popular Eala is 11-3 since the start of Wimbledon, with wins over Swiatek, Svitolina, Osaka and Pegula. The 21-year-old Filipina could face 18-year-old Iva Jovic (+5000) in a third-round clash between two of the WTA Tour's brightest young stars. Noskova and Muchova met in the final of Wimbledon, but Muchova underwent a surgical procedure and hasn't played since losing that match, while Noskova is just 2-2 since that breakthrough.
Bencic pulled out during the Canadian Open due to a hip injury and then couldn't complete her first match in Cincinnati, so the 2019 U.S. Open semifinalist doesn't seem fully fit physically. Svitolina also has injury concerns, but the ninth-seeded Ukrainian seems to be further along in her recovery from an ankle injury. The Australian Open semifinalist is a strong contender to make the quarterfinals here out of the seventh-seeded Muchova's section given Muchova's injury issues.
Sleepers for the 2026 US Open
Madison Keys (+5000) - Keys isn't as consistent as the cream of the crop on the WTA Tour, but she can go toe-to-toe with anybody when she's on her game, as the big-hitting American proved by winning last year's Australian Open. Seeded No. 22 here, Keys has a clear path to the Round of 16 in the same section as the banged-up Bencic. At that point, Keys would likely face Swiatek, whom the American defeated en route to her Australian Open title.
Sara Bejlek (+8000) - Bejlek just notched four top-30 wins en route to the semifinals in Cincinnati, including a stunner over Sabalenka. The 20-year-old Czech also won a hard-court title earlier this year in Abu Dhabi. Seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time, the 5-foot-3 Bejlek was unlucky to draw Gauff as her likely third-round opponent here after Gauff ended Bejlek's Cincinnati run. Even so, Bejlek has plenty of sleeper appeal given her hard-court success this year.
Sorana Cirstea (+20000) - Cirstea has been a tough out all year, and that's unlikely to change in what's expected to be the final Grand Slam of her career. She has gone 36-13 overall in her final season on the WTA Tour. At Grand Slams, Cirstea pushed Naomi Osaka to three sets at the Australian Open, then lost to eventual champion Mirra Andreeva in the French Open quarterfinals and in an 11-9 match tiebreak to eventual champion Linda Noskova at Wimbledon. Given Cirstea's level throughout the year, the No. 16 seed is a terrific value at 200:1 odds, even with a looming fourth-round matchup against Pegula.
US Open Prediction
While American men are stuck in a 23-year Grand Slam title drought, the women have had no trouble piling up major wins, and American tennis fans could have a lot to cheer about at this tournament, with three Americans among the top eight title favorites. Amanda Anisimova came tantalizingly close to winning here last year, and she's finally rounding into form after a down year. She is my pick to win this title in an all-American final over Pegula.
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