2009 US Open – Women's Singles second round. This was also the final Grand Slam singles appearance of Ai Sugiyama, who was on a record-breaking 62nd consecutive Grand Slam singles appearance, lost in the first round to Samantha Stosur. Sugiyama's record-breaking run of 62 consecutive Grand Slam singles appearances remains unbeaten as of 2019. Dinara Safina "(Third round)" 2009 US Open – Women's Singles Serena Williams was the defending champion, but was defeated in the semifinals by the eventual champion Kim Clijsters. Clijsters defeated first time Grand Slam finalist Caroline Wozniacki in the final to win her second US Open title. Clijsters became the first unseeded
1996 US Open – Men's Singles 1996 US Open – Men's Singles Pete Sampras was the defending champion, and successfully defended his title, defeating Michael Chang 6–1, 6–4, 7–6 in the final to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1996 US Open. Sampras' run was highlighted by a memorable quarterfinal match against unseeded Alex Corretja. Sampras had a stomach bug and actually threw up in the fifth set, prompting a warning from the referees for delaying the match. Corretja nearly pulled the upset, but Sampras won 9-7 in the fifth set tiebreak. In the draw for the tournament, there were accusations of American favouritism