There is plenty of intrigue around the 2023 U.S. Open women’s tournament -- especially since there’s no heavy-betting favorite. Will Iga Swiatek repeat her championship run from last year? The oddsmakers seem to think so, since she’s the current betting favorite. What about Aryna Sabalenka or Elena Rybakina? Will 2022 runner-up Ons Jabeur be able to avenge her championship match loss?

All of those questions will be answered in the coming weeks. For now, let’s look back at some of the most accomplished women’s winners of all-time.

Who won the U.S. Open Women’s Final 2022?

Iga Swiatek defeated Ons Jabeur to win the 2022 U.S. Open women’s final.

History of U.S. Open Tennis Women’s Winners

Ellen Hansell won the first U.S. Open women’s championship back in 1887, when the tournament still went by its original name, the U.S. National Championship. The first female champion of the Open Era was Virginia Wade in 1968. The most recent champion was Iga Swiatek in 2022. You can click the following link for a complete list of women’s US Open tennis winners.

Who has won the most women’s singles U.S. Open tennis titles?

Including the amateur era, Norwegian-American dual citizen Molla Bjurstedt Mallory has the most career titles, having won eight between 1915 and 1926. Since professionals were first allowed into the tournament with the start of the Open Era in 1968, Serena Williams and Chris Evert are tied for the most women’s U.S. Open titles with six apiece.

Ranking the Top 10 Greatest Women’s Singles Winners in U.S. Open Tennis History

  1. Venus Williams

U.S. Open Champion: 2000, 2001
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 1997, 2002 

Venus Williams broke through with a bang at her first U.S. Open in 1997. As an unseeded 17-year-old, she knocked off No. 8 seed Anke Huber and No. 11 seed Irina Spirlea before falling to world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final. Williams was looking to become one of the youngest U.S. Open winners in history.

Williams would go on to make five more consecutive semifinals and win back-to-back championships in 2000 and 2001. In her second final victory, she beat her sister Serena, but then lost her shot at a three-peat when Serena gained revenge in the 2002 final. Remarkably, Venus Williams was still a factor as late as 2017, when she reached her ninth U.S. Open semifinal.

She’s still going -- Venus competed at Wimbledon this summer and reportedly might announce her retirement after competing int the 2023 U.S. Open. Stay tuned for any possible such announcement and to see whether semifinal No. 10 is in the cards for this American tennis legend.

  1. Kim Clijsters

U.S. Open Champion: 2005, 2009, 2010
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 2003

Technically, Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters won three straight U.S. Open championships -- with the first coming in 2005 and the next two coming in…2009 and 2010?

A dominant 2005 U.S. Open women’s final win over Mary Pierce cemented Clijsters as arguably the best women’s tennis player on the planet -- a claim she strengthened by reaching three straight Grand Slam semifinals to open the 2006 season. Injuries mounted, however, forcing her to miss the 2006 U.S. Open and a chance to defend her title. She then retired and had a child.

After a nearly two-year hiatus, Clijsters returned to the U.S. Open as an unseeded wild-card entrant in 2009. Despite her time off, she romped to the title and even beat Serena Williams along the way. She would win again in 2010, capping off truly a great tennis story.

  1. Molla Bjurstedt Mallory

U.S. Open Champion: 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1926
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 1923, 1924

Eight championships, that’s a lot of titles! In fact, Molla Bjurstedt Mallory has the most women’s U.S. Open titles of all-time.

Mallory represented Norway early in her career before becoming an American citizen through marriage. She was the first woman to ever compete for Norway at the Olympics. She also won a staggering seven U.S. Open titles during an eight-year period.

Mallory was also the oldest U.S. Open winner ever, claiming the title in 1926 at age 42.

  1. Margaret Smith Court

U.S. Open Champion: 1962, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1973
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 1963

Margaret Smith Court was a five-time U.S. Open singles champion, claiming three of her victories after the Open Era began in 1968. She was also a five-time U.S. Open mixed-doubles champion. The Australian star captured her first singles title in 1962 by beating two-time defending champion Darlene Hard in straight sets.

Court was part of some fantastic women’s tennis rivalries during the late 1960s and early 1970s – rivalries that often played out at the U.S. Open. She defeated Bille Jean King in 1965 (8-6, 7-5) and survived fellow Australian Evonne Goolagong in three sets in 1974.

  1. Helen Wills Moody

U.S. Open Champion: 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 1922, 1933

Helen Wills Moody competed in nine U.S. Open tournaments. She reached the finals in all of them, winning seven and losing just two. The 1923 final was an epic showdown between youth and experience, as a 17-year-old Wills defeated 39-year old U.S. Open legend Molla Mallory.

“The Garbo of Tennis” would only continue her ascent from there, winning the next two U.S. Opens and cementing herself as the new face of the women’s game.

  1. Billie Jean King

U.S. Open Champion: 1971, 1972, 1974
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 1965, 1968

Tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King competed in her first U.S. Open tournament in 1959 when only eight women’s players were seeded. Twenty years later, King made the semifinals at the 1979 U.S. Open and was still competing in the 1982 edition, when Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were entrenched as the new faces of the sport.

Of course, King won a lot along the way. Her title-winning matches in 1971 and 1972 both ended in straight sets, but her third title in 1974 came from a final for the ages. She found herself in a showdown with Australian Evonne Goolagong, who was fresh off snapping Chris Evert’s record 55-match winning streak.

It was the last U.S. Open tournament ever held on grass courts, and King prevailed 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

  1. Martina Navratilova

U.S. Open Champion: 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 1981, 1985, 1989, 1991

There were many U.S. Open heartbreaks and near-misses for Martina Navratilova prior to her breakthrough championship run at age 27 in 1983. Back in 1975, then only 18, Navratilova shocked Margaret Court in the quarterfinals before falling to world No. 1 Chris Evert in the semis. She lost again in the semifinals in 1977, 1978, and 1979 before losing the 1981 final to Tracy Austin in a three-set heartbreaker. After winning the first set, Navratilova lost consecutive tiebreaks to Austin.

Finally, her luck turned, and a great run unfolded from 1983 to 1987. Navratilova made five straight finals appearances, won four championships, and earned a place in tennis lore. Her most impressive victory of the bunch was a comeback win over longtime rival Evert in the 1984 U.S. Open final.

  1. Steffi Graf

U.S. Open Champion: 1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 1987, 1990, 1994

The No. 4 entry on this list, Martina Navratilova, defeated Steffi Graf to win her final U.S. Open title in 1987. In the process, she awakened a beast.

The German-born Graf would win the next two titles, including a thrilling comeback victory over Navratilova in the 1989 final. Her most famous championship-match victory was a heated affair against Monica Selas in 1995.

There was tension between Graf and Seles even before that 1995 match started, because “it was the first meeting between the WTA’s two best players since Seles had been stabbed more than two years earlier by Gunter Parche, a psychotic Graf fan upset that the Croatian had taken the No. 1 ranking from his fellow German.”

Graf would win the first set before getting routed 6-0 in the second, but she rebounded with the help of a break to take the third set and the title.

  1. Chris Evert

U.S. Open Champion: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 1979, 1983, 1984

Chris Evert was just 16 in 1971 and competing in her first Grand Slam event when she took the U.S. Open by storm. The unseeded teen went all the way to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Billie Jean King.

Evert would reach at least the semifinals of every U.S. Open from 1971 to 1986 -- winning six championships and finishing as a three-time runner-up. An absolute rock of the sport, Evert’s consistency was far from commonplace. Her six U.S. Open titles are tied for the most by any woman in the Open Era, making her one of the two greatest U.S. Open tennis women’s champions of all time.

  1. Serena Williams

U.S. Open Champion: 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014
U.S. Open Runner-Up: 2001, 2011, 2018, 2019

Speaking of Chris Evert’s longevity, the No. 1 player on this list just happens to be only other woman to win six U.S. Open singles titles in the Open Era. Serena Williams was 17 when she defeated Martina Hingis to win the 1999 U.S. Open, making her the first black woman in the Open era to win a Grand Slam event.

Williams remained dominant into her 30s, reeling off three straight U.S. Open titles from 2012 to 2014. Even in 2022, at age 40 and having already announced her plan to retire after the tournament, Williams eliminated No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit in the second round.

Serena, a U.S. Open tennis legend, is not only tied for the most Open-Era women’s singles titles. She also holds the record for most U.S. Open women’s finals appearances with 10.

Parameters of Rankings

Rankings were based on each player’s number of standout performances, titles won, and legacy at the U.S. Open.

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