The 2008 US Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 128th edition of the US Open, and the fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York City, United States, from August 25 through September 8, 2008.
The men's defending champion, Roger Federer, won the US Open for a fifth consecutive time. Justine Henin, the women's defending champion, did not return to defend her title due to her retirement from tennis, for personal reasons, earlier in the year. Serena Williams was the champion on the women's side, winning her third US Open title; she had last won the event in 2002. Federer and Williams's opponents, Andy Murray and Jelena Janković, were making their débuts in Grand Slam finals. World number ones Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic went out in the semifinal and second round, respectively. This was Nadal's best ever result at the US Open; for Ivanovic, it was her second early exit at a Grand Slam since her win at the 2008 French Open.
The home nation had success; Serena Williams was the first American to win a singles title since Andy Roddick in 2003. Twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan won their second US Open title, and Liezel Huber (who became an American citizen in 2007) won the women's doubles with Zimbabwean Cara Black.
Preparations
The International Tennis Federation and United States Tennis Association offered audiences a number of new ways to access the Open in 2008. A YouTube channel was set up to broadcast highlights, and the official US Open website featured hourly updates of what was happening at the tournament. Multiple matches could be accessed at any one time, on handheld video devices courtesy of American Express. In celebration of the 40th anniversary since the US National Championships became "open" to professionals, a special opening ceremony was held, showcasing all the singles champions of the previous 40 years, with over two dozen of them in attendance. The ceremony was hosted by actor Forest Whitaker and included musical performances from funk band Earth, Wind & Fire. In addition to this, fans were shown nightly video tributes, and a commemorative book was published. On August 23, the annual Arthur Ashe Kids Day was held; Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic, and Serena Williams led the player participation. Musical acts including the Jonas Brothers and Sean Kingston performed on this day as well.
Men's and women's singles players
+Men's singlesChampionRunner-up Roger Federer (2) Andy Murray (6) Semifinals out Rafael Nadal (1) Novak Djokovic (3) Quarterfinals out Mardy Fish Juan Martín del Potro (17) Andy Roddick (8) Gilles Müller 4th round out Sam Querrey Gaël Monfils (32) Kei Nishikori Stanislas Wawrinka (10) Fernando González (11) Tommy Robredo (15) Nikolay Davydenko (5) Igor Andreev (23) 3rd round out Viktor Troicki Ivo Karlović (14) James Blake (9) David Nalbandian (7) David Ferrer (4) Gilles Simon (16) Flavio Cipolla Jürgen Melzer Andreas Seppi (31) Jarkko Nieminen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (19) Marin Čilić (30) Dmitry Tursunov (26) Nicolás Almagro (18) Fernando Verdasco (13) Radek Štěpánek (28) 2nd round out Ryler DeHeart Philipp Kohlschreiber (25) Nicolas Devilder Florent Serra Steve Darcis Paul-Henri Mathieu (24) Evgeny Korolev Andrey Golubev Andreas Beck Roko Karanušić Thomaz Bellucci José Acasuso Wayne Odesnik Lu Yen-hsun Jiří Vaněk Michaël Llodra Ernests Gulbis Guillermo García López Ivo Minář Bobby Reynolds Marat Safin Carlos Moyá Robby Ginepri Robert Kendrick Agustín Calleri Victor Hănescu Sam Warburg Tommy Haas Rui Machado Jérémy Chardy Chris Guccione Thiago Alves 1st round out Björn Phau Olivier Rochus Carsten Ball Luis Horna Tomáš Berdych (22) Pablo Andújar Rainer Schüttler Jan Minář Donald Young Denis Gremelmayr Robert Smeets Sébastien Grosjean Pablo Cuevas Robin Söderling Brendan Evans Marcos Daniel Martín Vassallo Argüello John Isner Ryan Sweeting Juan Mónaco (29) Guillermo Cañas Óscar Hernández Michael Berrer Marcel Granollers Simone Bolelli Fabio Fognini Nicolás Lapentti Jan Hernych Feliciano López (27) Stéphane Bohli Teymuraz Gabashvili Sergio Roitman Fabrice Santoro Thomas Johansson Dominik Hrbatý Hyung-Taik Lee Nicolas Kiefer (20) Scoville Jenkins Tomáš Zíb Iván Navarro Mischa Zverev Vincent Spadea Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Santiago Ventura Bertomeu Julien Benneteau Amer Delić Nicolas Mahut Arnaud Clément Dudi Sela Austin Krajicek Albert Montañés Eduardo Schwank Frank Dancevic Janko Tipsarević Laurent Recouderc Richard Gasquet (12) Igor Kunitsyn Rik de Voest Frederico Gil Marc Gicquel Potito Starace Jesse Levine Paul Capdeville Máximo González
+Women's singlesChampionRunner-up Serena Williams (4) Jelena Janković (2) Semifinals out Dinara Safina (6) Elena Dementieva (5) Quarterfinals out Flavia Pennetta (16) Venus Williams (7) Patty Schnyder (15) Sybille Bammer (29) 4th round out Amélie Mauresmo (32) Anna-Lena Grönefeld Séverine Brémond Agnieszka Radwańska (9) Li Na Katarina Srebotnik (28) Marion Bartoli (12) Caroline Wozniacki (21) 3rd round out Julie Coin Nadia Petrova (19) Alizé Cornet (17) Timea Bacsinszky Ai Sugiyama (30) Tathiana Garbin Dominika Cibulková (18) Alona Bondarenko (27) Anne Keothavong Ekaterina Makarova Magdaléna Rybáriková Svetlana Kuznetsova (3) Tatiana Perebiynis Lindsay Davenport (23) Victoria Azarenka (14) Zheng Jie 2nd round out Ana Ivanovic (1) Kaia Kanepi Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai Jessica Moore Bethanie Mattek Chan Yung-jan Roberta Vinci Elena Vesnina Olga Govortsova Nicole Vaidišová (20) Ágnes Szávay (13) Mariana Duque Marino Ioana Rlauca Olaru Sabine Lisicki Rossana de los Ríos Pauline Parmentier Francesca Schiavone (25) Sara Errani Ekaterina Bychkova Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Tamira Paszek Yvonne Meusburger Sorana Cîrstea Vera Zvonareva (8) Aravane Rezaï Alisa Kleybanova Virginia Ruano Pascual Iveta Benešová Maria Elena Camerin Anabel Medina Garrigues (26) Sofia Arvidsson 1st round out Vera Dushevina Casey Dellacqua Monica Niculescu Nathalie Dechy Olivia Sanchez Evgeniya Rodina Eleni Daniilidou Stefanie Vögele Daniela Hantuchová (11) Melanie Oudin Marta Domachowska Camille Pin Virginie Razzano (31) Alla Kudryavtseva Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro Kristie Haerim Ahn Kateryna Bondarenko Julia Vakulenko Sandra Záhlavová Andreja Klepač Petra Cetkovská Julia Görges Maret Ani Gail Brodsky Yaroslava Shvedova Tamarine Tanasugarn Edina Gallovits Jill Craybas Jamea Jackson María José Martínez Sánchez Hana Šromová Samantha Stosur Akgul Amanmuradova Marina Erakovic Alexa Glatch Nuria Llagostera Vives Shahar Pe'er (24) Jelena Kostanić Tošić Anastasia Rodionova Anna Chakvetadze (10) Anastasia Pivovarova Vania King Gisela Dulko Maria Kirilenko (22) Yanina Wickmayer Lourdes Domínguez Lino Lucie Šafářová Zhang Shuai Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová Mariya Koryttseva Asia Muhammad Aiko Nakamura Aleksandra Wozniak Carla Suárez Navarro Petra Kvitová Galina Voskoboeva Klára Zakopalová Karin Knapp Émilie Loit Ahsha Rolle Tsvetana Pironkova Shenay Perry Yan Zi CoCo Vandeweghe
Day-by-day summaries Day by day summaries of the men's and women's singles events, with men's, women's, and mixed doubles exits also listed. Both the men's and women's singles draw are composed of 128 players, with 32 of these players seeded.
Day 1
Seeds progressing on the first day of play included David Ferrer, Andy Murray, David Nalbandian, Stanislas Wawrinka, Gilles Simon, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Gaël Monfils. Recent Olympic gold medalist, and new World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who acknowledged that he was suffering from fatigue post-match, advanced after being tested by qualifier Björn Phau; and Juan Martín del Potro, who entered the Open on a run of nineteen consecutive wins, and who, over the course of this run, had become the first player in ATP history to win his first four titles in as many tournaments, beat fellow Argentine Guillermo Cañas. Together Nadal and del Potro had completed the longest winning streaks on the tour in 2008, with Nadal's run having extended to 32 matches. Americans James Blake (seeded ninth) and Donald Young treated the home crowd to a match spanning five sets, in one of the scheduled night matches, with Blake emerging as the victor. Juan Mónaco and Feliciano López were the only seeds who failed to progress.
In the women's competition, Jelena Janković, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Marion Bartoli, Victoria Azarenka, Patty Schnyder, Caroline Wozniacki, Francesca Schiavone, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Katarina Srebotnik, and Sybille Bammer all made safe passage into the second round. Nadal's Olympic counterpart, Elena Dementieva, made hard work of her win against Akgul Amanmuradova, and former champion Lindsay Davenport, playing the US Open for the first time since her return to the sport from a break due to motherhood, beat recent Bank of the West Classic winner Aleksandra Wozniak in a comfortable two sets. Seeded losers included 2007 semifinalist Anna Chakvetadze, who lost to Ekaterina Makarova, making this her worst Slam finish in three years; Maria Kirilenko, who lost to Tamira Paszek; and Shahar Pe'er, who lost to Li Na 2–6, 6–0, 6–1. Seeded players out: Juan Mónaco, Feliciano López; Shahar Pe'er, Anna Chakvetadze, Maria Kirilenko
Day 2
Day 2 saw the first round matches from the bottom half of the draw begin; Fernando González, Fernando Verdasco, Ivo Karlović, Tommy Robredo, Igor Andreev, and Paul-Henri Mathieu all progressed. Defending champion and number two seed Roger Federer, playing his first Grand Slam since the 2004 Australian Open at a seeding lower than number one, beat Máximo González 6–3, 6–0, 6–3, and Andreas Seppi, the thirty-first seed, triumphed in five sets (6–3, 7–5, 3–6, 3–6, 6–3) over Hyung-taik Lee. Four seeds exited the tournament: Richard Gasquet, who lost in five sets to former world number two Tommy Haas; Tomáš Berdych, who lost to home favorite Sam Querrey in a humbling 6–3, 6–1, 6–2 scoreline; Canada Masters runner-up Nicolas Kiefer, who retired at two sets to one and 4–1 down in his match against Ivo Minář; and Mikhail Youzhny, who withdrew due to a viral illness.
World No. 1 and top seed Ana Ivanovic, who had recently returned from injury, began her campaign with a hard-fought win over Vera Dushevina, coming through 6–1, 4–6, 6–4. The Williams sisters Venus and Serena, both former champions, advanced with relative ease, as did in-form player and US Open Series winner Dinara Safina. Agnieszka Radwańska, Ágnes Szávay, Flavia Pennetta, Alizé Cornet, Nadia Petrova, Nicole Vaidišová, Alona Bondarenko, Dominika Cibulková, and former world number one Amélie Mauresmo all scored victories to enter the second round. However, eleventh seed Daniela Hantuchová suffered a heavy defeat by qualifier Anna-Lena Grönefeld, and thirty-first seed Virginie Razzano was also beaten. Seeded players out: Mikhail Youzhny (withdrawal), Tomáš Berdych, Richard Gasquet, Nicolas Kiefer; Daniela Hantuchová, Virginie Razzano Seeded players out: Paul Hanley / Jordan Kerr Madison Dauenhauer of Anaconda, Montana was a spectator, and also Paul Hanley's niece, at the tournament
Day 3 On Day 3, the remaining men's first round matches were completed. Third-seeded Novak Djokovic, who had won the Australian Open earlier in the year, won in straight sets against Arnaud Clément, but was hampered by an ankle injury, for which he received courtside treatment. Andy Roddick produced a sterling performance to defeat Fabrice Santoro 6–2, 6–2, 6–2, and Nikolay Davydenko, who entered the tournament on a poor run of form was, by his own admission, surprisingly efficient in dispatching Dudi Sela 6–3, 6–3, 6–3. Nicolás Almagro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Radek Štěpánek, and Marin Čilić won their matches to claim places in the second round, meaning that no seeds were knocked out on Day 3.