The 2012 US Open was a tennis tournament played on the outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States. It was played from August 27 to September 10.[1] As a result of adverse weather conditions on September 8, which included a full evacuation of the National Tennis Center because of an upcoming tornado, another day was added to the schedule for the fifth straight year,[2] with the women's final postponed to the afternoon of Sunday, September 9 rather than the previous evening, the men's semi-final between Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer suspended on September 8 and completed on September 9, and the men's final postponed to the afternoon of Monday, September 10.
Djokovic and Samantha Stosur were the defending men's and women's singles champions, respectively. Both were unsuccessful in their title defenses; Stosur being narrowly defeated by World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals, and Djokovic defeated in the final by Andy Murray. Murray became the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam singles title, and the first man to win both the US Open and the Olympic men's singles gold medal in the same year.[3] In the women's draw, Serena Williams won her fourth US Open title, and first since 2008, by defeating Victoria Azarenka in the final.
Notable events
Sara Errani – Winner of Women's Doubles and Semifinalist of Women's Singles
2010 champion and 2011 finalist Rafael Nadal withdrew from the tournament because of a knee injury.[4][5]
2010 finalist Vera Zvonareva also withdrew from the tournament due to illness.
Two former World No. 1s and US Open champions ended their careers after this year's US Open. Three-time women's champion Kim Clijsters suffered her first defeat at Flushing Meadows since losing the 2003 final to her compatriot and rivalJustine Henin, when she was defeated in the second round by Laura Robson. This loss marked the end of Clijsters' singles career. American Andy Roddick, who won in 2003, retired from professional tennis with his loss against 2009 champion Juan Martín del Potro in the fourth round.
Robson followed up her upset of Clijsters with a third round victory against Li Na, making the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, and this was also the first British woman to reach the fourth round in any Grand Slam since Samantha Smith did so in 1998 Wimbledon.
Serena Williams won 23 consecutive games from 4–4 in the first set against Ekaterina Makarova in the third round through to 3–0 in the first set against Ana Ivanovic in the quarter-finals.
After 17 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments without a quarter-final appearance, Ivanovic reached that stage for the first time since winning the 2008 French Open.[7]
Ivanovic, Marion Bartoli and Roberta Vinci all advanced to the US Open quarter-finals for the first time. For Vinci, this was her first Grand Slam quarter-final, eleven years and 31 Grand Slam tournaments after debuting at the 2001 US Open.[8]
Maria Sharapova returned to the semi-finals for the first time since 2006, and Sara Errani advanced to her first ever US Open semi-final.
Serena Williams advanced to her second straight US Open final, and her sixth overall. She defeated Victoria Azarenka in the first three-set final to be decided since 1995.[citation needed]
In the men's draw, Tomáš Berdych advanced to his first US Open quarter-final by virtue of his three-set win against Nicolás Almagro in the fourth round. He then advanced to the semi-finals after upsetting five-time US Open champion Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.
With Federer's defeat, this meant that for the first time since the 2004 French Open, neither Federer nor Nadal featured in a Grand Slam semi-final.[9]
With their victory in the men's doubles final, Bob and Mike Bryan took sole possession of the Open-era record for most Grand Slam men's doubles titles. Their 12th Grand Slam title took them past The Woodies (Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde). The win was also their fourth at the US Open, tying the Open-era record of Bob Lutz and Stan Smith.[10]
The second men's semi-final between David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic was also postponed to Sunday, also due to inclement weather, with the men's final to be played on Monday for the fifth year in a row.[citation needed]
Andy Murray became the first British winner of a Grand Slam singles title since 1977, and the first British man to do so since 1936, by defeating the defending champion Djokovic in the final. Lasting 4:54, it was the equal-longest US Open final by duration in history, and the equal-second longest Grand Slam final in the Open Era, only behind the 2012 Australian Open final.[11]
For the first time since 2003, the four Grand Slam Men's Singles titles were won by different players.[citation needed]
Points and prize money
Point distribution
Below is a series of tables for each of the competitions showing the ranking points on offer for each event.
This year there was no wheelchair competition due to a calendar conflict with the Paralympic Games in London. Wheelchair competition returned in 2013.[13]
Singles seeds
The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. Seedings based on ATP and WTA rankings are as of August 20, 2012. Rankings and points as before August 27, 2012.
Men's singles
[14]
The following player would have been seeded, but he withdrew from the event.
Women's singles
[16]
The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew from the event.
Wild card entries
Below are the lists of the wild card awardees entering in the main draws.
The following players were accepted directly into the main draw using a protected ranking:
Withdrawals
The following players were accepted directly into the main tournament, but withdrew with injuries or personal reasons.
References
^"Federer, Djokovic, Nadal headline men's field". www.usopen.org. August 8, 2012. Archived from the original on August 15, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
^"U.S. Open: For Fifth Straight Year, Men's Final Pushed to Monday". Sports Media Watch. September 8, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
^Fisher, Stewart (September 11, 2012). "Andy Murray wins first Grand Slam title with US Open triumph". The Herald. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
^Rothenberg, Ben (August 15, 2012). "Nadal, Still Recovering From Knee Problems, Will Miss United States Open". The New York Times.
^"Rafael Nadal out of US Open after failing to recover from knee injury". Guardian UK. London. August 15, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
^"US Open 2012: Philipp Kohlschreiber and John Isner equal record finish". The Guardian. London. September 3, 2012.
Andy Murray defeated 
Novak Djokovic, 7–6(12–10), 7–5, 2–6, 3–6, 6–2
Serena Williams defeated 
Victoria Azarenka, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Leander Paes / 
Radek Štěpánek, 6–3, 6–4
Sara Errani / 
Ekaterina Makarova / 
Bruno Soares defeated 
Marcin Matkowski, 6–7(8–10), 6–1, [12–10].svg/1280px-Flag_of_Canada_(Pantone).svg.png){kind=small}
Filip Peliwo defeated 
Anett Kontaveit, 7–5, 6–3
Frederico Ferreira Silva defeated .svg/1280px-Flag_of_Australia_(converted).svg.png){kind=small}
Nick Kyrgios / .svg/1280px-Flag_of_Switzerland_(Pantone).svg.png){kind=small}
Belinda Bencic / 
Petra Uberalová, 6–3, 6–4
