The2012US Open was atennis tournament played on the outdoorhard courts at theUSTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center inFlushing Meadows Park, ofQueens, 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 betweenNovak Djokovic andDavid Ferrer suspended on September 8 and completed on September 9, and the men's final postponed to the afternoon of Monday, September 10.
Djokovic andSamantha 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. 1Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals, and Djokovic defeated in the final byAndy Murray. Murray became the first British man sinceFred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam singles title, and the first man to win both the US Open and theOlympic 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 since2008, by defeatingVictoria Azarenka in the final.
2010 finalistVera 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 championKim Clijsters suffered her first defeat at Flushing Meadows since losing the2003 final to hercompatriot and rivalJustine Henin, when she was defeated in the second round byLaura Robson. This loss marked the end of Clijsters' singles career. AmericanAndy Roddick, who won in 2003, retired from professional tennis with his loss against2009 championJuan Martín del Potro in the fourth round.
Robson followed up her upset of Clijsters with a third round victory againstLi 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 sinceSamantha Smith did so in1998 Wimbledon.
Serena Williams won 23 consecutive games from 4–4 in the first set againstEkaterina Makarova in the third round through to 3–0 in the first set againstAna 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 the2008 French Open.[7]
Ivanovic,Marion Bartoli andRoberta 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 the2001 US Open.[8]
Maria Sharapova returned to the semi-finals for the first time since 2006, andSara Errani advanced to her first ever US Open semi-final.
In the men's draw,Tomáš Berdych advanced to his first US Open quarter-final by virtue of his three-set win againstNicolás Almagro in the fourth round. He then advanced to the semi-finals after upsetting five-time US Open championRoger Federer in the quarter-finals.
With Federer's defeat, this meant that for the first time since the2004 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 pastThe Woodies (Todd Woodbridge andMark Woodforde). The win was also their fourth at the US Open, tying the Open-era record ofBob Lutz andStan Smith.[10]
The second men's semi-final betweenDavid Ferrer andNovak 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 the2012 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]
This year there was no wheelchair competition due to a calendar conflict with theParalympic Games in London. Wheelchair competition returned in 2013.[13]
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.