Naomi Osaka looks to defend her 2020 US Open women’s singles title as one of the favorites heading into competition. Osaka and world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty lead a cast of contenders.

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Last year, the US Open was played but without fans. This year, the fans are back which will make for a more entertaining tournament. There is a cast of women that could contend for this year’s title, including a few former winners. Here’s a look at the top contenders for the 2021 US Open women’s singles title.

The Favorites

The top two players in the world are Barty and Osaka and it’s not surprising they are the favorites to win the US Open. Barty leads the board at +375 with Osaka trailing behind at +550.

Osaka won here last here, but her 2021 season has had its ups and downs. Remember her last Grand Slam tournament. She withdrew from the French Open citing mental health reasons. She will be favored to make it out of her bracket, but there are potential tough outs in Elina Svitolina, Angelique Kerber, and Simona Halep (+2000).

Even Barty won’t have it all that easy. Belinda Bencic, who won the gold medal in women’s singles at the Tokyo Olympics, is in Barty’s quarter. So is Iga Swiatek, who is fourth on the board at +1600. Bencic is listed as a longshot at +3300.

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Top Contenders

Besides the powerful Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka (+1200) and Karolina Pliskova (+1600) could potentially make their way to the final. Pliskova lost to Kerber in the 2016 US Open final. Sabalenka has actually won a doubles title (2019) at the US Open but has never made it past the fourth round in singles play. She did make the semifinals at Wimbledon though.

The other contender to watch is former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu (+2000). The Canadian won the US Open in 2019 but was still recovering from a knee injury when the coronavirus derailed the 2020 season. Andreescu herself tested positive for COVID-19 in April of this year and withdrew from the Madrid Open. She was the sixth seed in the 2021 French Open but got beat in the first round. She was also upset in the first round at Wimbledon this year. Still, she is one of the world’s best players and has performed well at the US Open in the past.

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The Sleepers to Watch

A potential longshot is French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova. One thing Krejcikova has done this year is win. She is 39-12 in singles matches this year and has won 25 of her last 28 matches. At +2200, she is a tremendous value.

The other sleeper to watch is Bencic, the Olympic champion. She has won nine of her last ten matches and does play well on hard courts.

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