Emma Raducanu defeated Leylah Fernandez in the final, 6–4, 6–3 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 2021 US Open. It was her first major title. Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a major. She was the first British woman to win a singles major since Virginia Wade at the 1977 Wimbledon Championships, and the second player to win the US Open on her tournament debut (after Bianca Andreescu in 2019). Aged 18, Raducanu was the youngest major champion since Maria Sharapova at the 2004 Wimbledon Championships, and with a ranking of world No. 150, the lowest-ranked player to win a major since Kim Clijsters at the 2009 US Open. She did not lose a set during the tournament, including during her three qualification matches, and was not taken to a tiebreak in any set, and the total number of games won by her opponents in the main draw was only 34, an average of less than 2.5 games per set. It was her first WTA Tour-level singles title, making her the fourth woman in the Open Era to win a major as her first singles title. Raducanu won the title on only her second major main-draw appearance, an Open Era record.

Naomi Osaka was the defending champion, but was defeated by Fernandez in the third round.

The final marked the first all-teenage major final since Serena Williams defeated Martina Hingis at the 1999 US Open, and the first women's singles major final in the Open Era to feature two unseeded players. Raducanu and Fernandez both made their top 30 debuts following the tournament. Fernandez was the youngest player to defeat three top-five seeded players in the same major since Williams at the 1999 US Open. She was the first player of Southeast Asian descent (Filipino) to reach the final.

This was the first major since the 2011 French Open and first US Open since 2003 where neither of the Williams sisters participated.

None of the top 20 seeds lost prior to the third round, the first time this occurred since the introduction of the 32-seed format in 2001. The defeats of Karolína Plíšková and Barbora Krejčíková in the quarterfinals guaranteed two first-time major finalists; Raducanu and Fernandez emerged to become those players. This also ensured that, for the first time since 2014, eight different players contested the four major finals in a season.

This marked the final US Open appearance of 2016 champion and former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber; she lost to Fernandez in the fourth round. Kerber subsequently went on maternity leave in 2023 and retired from professional tennis in 2024.

Seeds

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Bottom half

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Championship match statistics

Category Raducanu Fernandez 1st serve %49/71 (69%) 45/78 (58%) 1st serve points won33 of 49 = 67% 25 of 45 = 56% 2nd serve points won 10 of 22 = 45% 15 of 33 = 45% Total service points won43 of 71 = 57.33% 40 of 78 = 51.28% Aces 3 2 Double faults 2 5 Winners22 18 Unforced errors25 26 Net points won 11 of 15 = 73% 9 of 12 = 75% Break points converted 4 of 18 = 22% 2 of 9 = 22% Return points won 38 of 78 = 49% 28 of 71 = 43% Total points won 81 68Source

Seeded players The following are the seeded players. Seedings are based on WTA rankings as of August 23, 2021. Rank and points before are as of August 30, 2021.

As a result of pandemic-related adjustments to the ranking system, players are defending the greater of their points from the 2019 and 2020 tournaments. In addition, points from tournaments held during the weeks of September 9, 2019 and September 7, 2020 will be dropped at the end of the tournament and replaced by the player's next best result.

SeedRankPlayerPoints before Points defending from 2019 or 2020Points wonPoints afterStatus 1 1 Ashleigh Barty 10,185 240 130 10,075 Third round lost to Shelby Rogers 2 2 Aryna Sabalenka 7,010 70 780 7,720 Semifinals lost to Leylah Fernandez 3 3 Naomi Osaka 6,666 2,000 130 4,796 Third round lost to Leylah Fernandez 4 4 Karolína Plíšková 5,530 240+470 430+65 5,315 Quarterfinals lost to Maria Sakkari 5 5 Elina Svitolina 5,210 780 430 4,860 Quarterfinals lost to Leylah Fernandez 6 7 Bianca Andreescu 4,537 2,000 240 2,777 Fourth round lost to Maria Sakkari 7 8 Iga Świątek 4,461 130 240 4,571 Fourth round lost to Belinda Bencic 8 9 Barbora Krejčíková 4,273 (35)† 430 4,668 Quarterfinals lost to Aryna Sabalenka 9 10 Garbiñe Muguruza 4,210 70 240 4,380 Fourth round lost to Barbora Krejčíková 10 11 Petra Kvitová 4,170 240 130 4,060 Third round lost to Maria Sakkari 11 12 Belinda Bencic 4,170 780 430 3,820 Quarterfinals lost to Emma Raducanu [Q] 12 13 Simona Halep 3,881 70 240 4,051 Fourth round lost to Elina Svitolina 13 14 Jennifer Brady 3,489 780+29 0+15 2,695 Withdrew due to injury 14 15 3,420 70 240 3,590 Fourth round lost to Karolína Plíšková 15 16 Elise Mertens 3,330 430 240 3,140 Fourth round lost to Aryna Sabalenka 16 17 Angelique Kerber 3,245 240 240 3,245 Fourth round lost to Leylah Fernandez 17 18 Maria Sakkari 3,210 240 780 3,750 Semifinals lost to Emma Raducanu [Q] 18 19 Victoria Azarenka 3,160 1,300 130 1,990 Third round lost to Garbiñe Muguruza 19 20 Elena Rybakina 3,083 70+180 130+105 3,068 Third round lost to Simona Halep 20 21 Ons Jabeur 2,975 130 130 2,975 Third round lost to Elise Mertens 21 23 Coco Gauff 2,875 130 70 2,815 Second round lost to Sloane Stephens 22 24 Karolína Muchová 2,862 240 10 2,632 First round lost to Sara Sorribes Tormo 23 25 Jessica Pegula 2,425 130 130 2,425 Third round lost to Belinda Bencic 24 26 Paula Badosa 2,343 30+110 70+30 2,303 Second round lost to Varvara Gracheva 25 27 Daria Kasatkina 2,340 10 130 2,460 Third round lost to Elina Svitolina 26 29 Danielle Collins 2,270 70 130 2,330 Third round lost to Aryna Sabalenka 27 30 Jeļena Ostapenko 2,170 130 0 2,040 Withdrew for medical reasons 28 28 Anett Kontaveit 2,315 240 130 2,205 Third round lost to Iga Świątek 29 31 Veronika Kudermetova 2,040 10+110 10+100 2,030 First round lost to Sorana Cîrstea 30 32 Petra Martić 2,005 240+305 70+55 1,585 Second round lost to Ajla Tomljanović 31 33 Yulia Putintseva 1,910 430 10 1,490 First round lost to Kaia Kanepi 32 34 Ekaterina Alexandrova 1,866 70 70 1,866 Second round lost to Kamilla Rakhimova [LL] † The player did not qualify for the tournament in 2019 or 2020. Accordingly, points for her 16th best result are deducted instead.

Withdrawn players The following players would have been seeded, but withdrew before the tournament began.

Rank Player Points before Points defending from 2019 or 2020 Points after Withdrawal reason 6 Sofia Kenin 5,030 240+100 4,691 Positive COVID-19 test 22 Serena Williams 2,891 1,300 1,591 Hamstring injury in right leg

Other entry information

Wild card entries

Qualifiers

Lucky losers

Protected ranking

Withdrawals

‡ – withdrew from entry list before qualifying began † – withdrew from entry list after qualifying began § – withdrew from main draw

See also 2021 US Open – Day-by-day summaries

Explanatory notes

References