2020 US Open – Women's singles

Naomi Osaka defeated Victoria Azarenka in the final, 1–6, 6–3, 6–3 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 2020 US Open. It was her second US Open title and third major title overall. Osaka became the first player from an Asian country (excluding Russia) to win three major singles titles, the first player since Jennifer Capriati to win her first three majors in three finals appearances and, at 22 years of age, the youngest player to win three major titles since Maria Sharapova at the 2008 Australian Open. Azarenka, who was contesting her first major final since the 2013 US Open, was aiming to become the first mother to win a major singles title since Kim Clijsters won the 2011 Australian Open.

Bianca Andreescu was the reigning champion, but withdrew before the tournament due to travel concerns caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Citing safety reasons, five other top-ten players (including reigning major champions Ashleigh Barty and Simona Halep) also withdrew from the event. In all, 24 players ranked inside the top 100 were absent from the tournament. The absences of Barty and Halep, respectively world No. 1 and 2, made this the first major since the 2004 Wimbledon Championships not to feature either of the world's top two ranked players.

29 of the 32 seeded women progressed to the second round; the most since the US Open changed from 16 seeds to 32 seeds in 2001.

With her first round win over Kristie Ahn, Serena Williams surpassed Chris Evert for the most match wins (102) in US Open history. Williams was attempting to equal Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 major singles titles and was also trying to set a new Open Era record by winning a seventh US Open singles title, but lost to Azarenka in the semifinals. Williams became the first player in history to reach a major semifinal in four decades: the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. With Williams, Azarenka and Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarterfinals, it marked the first time in major history that three mothers did so. The semifinal between Williams and Azarenka was the first semifinal between two mothers in major history. This was Kim Clijsters' first (and only) major appearance since the 2012 US Open, due to her return to the sport in February 2020. Clijsters was awarded a wildcard into the main draw, but she lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets, and would retire from tennis once again in 2022.

There were no qualifiers this year. The WTA rankings valid on August 3 (also being the rankings from March 16) were used to determine the main-draw entry list.

Seeds
Seeding per WTA rankings. • 🇨🇿 Karolína Plíšková (second round)

• 🇺🇸 Sofia Kenin (fourth round)

• 🇺🇸 Serena Williams (semifinals)

• 🇯🇵 Naomi Osaka (champion)

• 🇧🇾 Aryna Sabalenka (second round)

• 🇨🇿 Petra Kvitová (fourth round)

• 🇺🇸 Madison Keys (third round, retired)

• Petra Martić (fourth round)

• 🇬🇧 Johanna Konta (second round)

• 🇪🇸 Garbiñe Muguruza (second round)

• 🇰🇿 Elena Rybakina (second round)

• 🇨🇿 Markéta Vondroušová (second round)

• 🇺🇸 Alison Riske (second round)

• 🇪🇪 Anett Kontaveit (fourth round)

•  Maria Sakkari (fourth round)

• 🇧🇪 Elise Mertens (quarterfinals)

• 🇩🇪 Angelique Kerber (fourth round)

•  Donna Vekić (third round)

• 🇺🇦 Dayana Yastremska (second round)

• 🇨🇿 Karolína Muchová (fourth round)

• 🇷🇺 Ekaterina Alexandrova (second round)

• 🇺🇸 Amanda Anisimova (third round)

• 🇰🇿 Yulia Putintseva (quarterfinals)

• 🇵🇱 Magda Linette (third round)

• 🇨🇳 Zhang Shuai (first round)

• 🇺🇸 Sloane Stephens (third round)

• 🇹🇳 Ons Jabeur (third round)

• 🇺🇸 Jennifer Brady (semifinals)

• 🇷🇺 Veronika Kudermetova (first round)

• 🇫🇷 Kristina Mladenovic (second round)

•  Anastasija Sevastova (second round)

• 🇸🇪 Rebecca Peterson (first round)

Wild cards
• 🇺🇸 Hailey Baptiste

• 🇺🇸 Catherine Bellis

• 🇧🇪 Kim Clijsters

• 🇺🇸 Claire Liu

• 🇺🇸 Allie Kiick

• 🇺🇸 Robin Montgomery

• 🇺🇸 Katrina Scott

• 🇺🇸 Sachia Vickery

Protected ranking
• 🇺🇦 Kateryna Bondarenko (85)

• 🇷🇺 Irina Khromacheva (137)

• 🇧🇾 Vera Lapko (120)

• 🇧🇬 Tsvetana Pironkova (123)

• 🇷🇺 Vera Zvonareva (78)

Alternates

 * 🇺🇸 Asia Muhammad
 * 🇦🇺 Arina Rodionova

Withdrawals
• 🇨🇦 Bianca Andreescu → replaced by 🇧🇾 Olga Govortsova

• 🇦🇺 Ashleigh Barty → replaced by 🇧🇾 Aliaksandra Sasnovich

• Belinda Bencic → replaced by 🇦🇹 Barbara Haas

•  Kiki Bertens → replaced by 🇺🇸 Francesca Di Lorenzo

• 🇷🇴 Ana Bogdan → replaced by 🇵🇱 Katarzyna Kawa

• 🇷🇺 Vitalia Diatchenko → replaced by 🇺🇸 Asia Muhammad

• 🇫🇷 Fiona Ferro → replaced by 🇺🇸 Caroline Dolehide

• 🇩🇪 Julia Görges → replaced by 🇧🇪 Ysaline Bonaventure

• 🇷🇴 Simona Halep → replaced by 🇷🇺 Irina Khromacheva

•  Polona Hercog → replaced by 🇧🇪 Yanina Wickmayer

•  Hsieh Su-wei → replaced by 🇺🇸 Usue Maitane Arconada

• 🇨🇿 Barbora Krejčíková → replaced by 🇧🇬 Viktoriya Tomova

• 🇷🇺 Svetlana Kuznetsova → replaced by 🇨🇿 Tereza Martincová

•  Jeļena Ostapenko → replaced by 🇺🇸 Whitney Osuigwe

• 🇷🇺 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova → replaced by 🇧🇾 Vera Lapko

• 🇨🇳 Peng Shuai → replaced by 🇦🇺 Lizette Cabrera

• 🇩🇪 Andrea Petkovic → replaced by 🇺🇦 Marta Kostyuk

• 🇷🇺 Anastasia Potapova → replaced by 🇺🇸 Caty McNally

• 🇦🇺 Samantha Stosur → replaced by 🇦🇺 Astra Sharma

• 🇨🇿 Barbora Strýcová → replaced by 🇺🇸 Ann Li

• 🇪🇸 Carla Suárez Navarro → replaced by 🇯🇵 Kurumi Nara

• 🇺🇦 Elina Svitolina → replaced by 🇷🇺 Natalia Vikhlyantseva

• 🇨🇳 Wang Qiang → replaced by 🇷🇴 Mihaela Buzărnescu

• 🇨🇳 Wang Xiyu → replaced by 🇦🇺 Arina Rodionova

• 🇨🇳 Wang Yafan → replaced by 🇧🇬 Tsvetana Pironkova

• 🇨🇳 Zheng Saisai → replaced by  Kaja Juvan

• 🇨🇳 Zhu Lin → replaced by  Viktorija Golubic

•  Tamara Zidanšek → replaced by 🇺🇦 Anhelina Kalinina

† – not included on entry list & – withdrew from entry list
 * Notes