Serena Williams Captures Fourth U.S. Open Singles Title

2012 U.S. Open: Serena Williams 'Shocked' To Have Won Fourth Open Title

Serena Williams walked out of Arthur Ashe Stadium with her fourth U.S. Open singles title Sunday, but faced with world's No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, even Williams was prepared to lose.

"I honestly can't believe I won. I really was preparing my runner-up speech, because I thought, 'Man, she's playing so great,'" Williams said during the trophy presentation. "I'm really shocked."

Down 3-5 in the decisive third set of the women's final late Sunday afternoon and into the evening, Williams was on the edge of dropping her second straight U.S. Open final, after losing to Samantha Stosur in the 2011 women's final.

Williams had been expected to breeze past the No. 1 Azarenka, as she had held a 9-1 all-time record against Azarenka in their 10 meetings. Instead, Azarenka forced Williams into a tough and exciting third set, where Williams eventually prevailed.

For more on the 2012 U.S. Open and in the world of tennis, visit the SB Nation tennis hub.

2012 U.S. Open Tennis Scores: Serena Williams Comes Back To Win In 3rd Set

Serena Williams came from behind in the third and deciding set to defeat Victoria Azarenka in the final round of the 2012 U.S. Open on Sunday, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

After rallying from 5-2 down in the third set, Williams won five straight points to take the lead and the match. Her last two points came on return errors by Azarenka.

When her first serve failed, Williams seemed to get a bit tense and make small mental mistakes. She still had 13 aces to Azarenka's none. Williams also record 45 unforced errors, while Azarenka finished with just 28.

This is Williams' fourth career U.S. Open victory (1998, 2002, 2008). It marks her second consecutive major tournament win along with taking gold at the London Olympics this past summer. Williams now has 15 major tournament victories for her career.

For more on the 2012 U.S. Open and in the world of tennis, visit the SB Nation tennis hub.

U.S. Open 2012 Schedule And TV Coverage: Serena Williams Will Play For Her 4th U.S. Open Title

The 2012 U.S. Open is nearing completion and the women's singles champion will be crowned on Saturday.

No. 1 Victoria Azarenka will face No. 4 Serena Williams in the women's singles final. Azarenka will be playing in her first U.S. Open singles final while Williams will attempt to win her fourth career U.S. Open singles title. Williams won the event in 1999, 2002 and 2008.

Williams has been dominant throughout the tournament, winning all six of her matches in straight sets, including her 6-1, 6-2 win against No. 10 Sara Errani in the semifinals. Azarenka advanced to the final with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win against No. 3 Maria Sharapova.

The men's quarterfinal matches will also take place Saturday with No. 3 Andy Murray facing No. 6 Tomas Berdych while No. 2 Novak Djokovic goes up against No. 4 David Ferrer.

Saturday's U.S. Open television coverage will begin at 12 p.m. ET on CBS. Television coverage of the women's match beginning at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Match times for Saturday can be found below:

11 a.m. ET

No. 3 Andy Murray vs. No. 6 Tomas Berdych

Not before 12 p.m. ET

No. 2 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 4 David Ferrer

7 p.m. ET

No. 1 Victoria Azarenka vs. No. 4 Serena Williams

For more on the 2012 U.S. Open and in the world of tennis, visit the SB Nation tennis hub.

U.S. Open 2012 Results: Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams To Meet In Final

The 2012 U.S. Open saw plenty of action Friday as Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka each advanced to the women's final while Americans Bob and Mike Bryan captured their fourth U.S. Open doubles title on the men's side.

No. 3 Maria Sharapova lost to the 23-year-old Azarenka 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinal match. In the final set, it took Azarenka until late in the match to finally break Sharapova en route to the win. Ironically, it was Sharapova who had the best numbers -- hitting 43 winners against just 18 from Azarenka.

Williams had a much easier time in defeating Italian Sara Errani 6-1, 6-2 in a match that lasted just over an hour and propelled the American to the final match vs. Azarenka. The 64-minute match took less time to complete than the entire third set of the Sharapova-Azarenka duel.

Meanwhile, the brothers Bryan willed their way to another U.S. Open victory by defeating No. 5 seed Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.

Williams is 9-1 against Azarenka, and enters the match playing some of her best tennis of the season.

For more on the 2012 U.S. Open and in the world of tennis, visit the SB Nation tennis hub.

U.S. Open 2012 Tennis Scores: Serena Williams Advances To Final In Straight Sets

Serena Williams put on a tennis clinic for Sara Errani Friday evening, overwhelming the Italian in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, to reach her sixth U.S. Open final.

It took only 64 minutes to get Errani off the court, with Williams racking up nine aces. Williams now has a tournament-leading 50 aces through the U.S. Open and has only lost one of the 26 matches she's participated in since losing in the first round of the French Open back in May.

It was clear that Errani didn't stand a chance from the start, as this year's French Open runner-up didn't come within a point of winning a game until Williams was already up 5-0.

The 30-year-old Williams is now set to face top-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Azarenka defeated Maria Sharapova in three sets earlier in the day, but will undoubtedly have her hands full with Williams, whom she is 1-9 against all-time.

For more updates on the 2012 U.S. Open, check out SB Nation's tennis hub. Live scores can be viewed at the event's website.

2012 U.S. Open Tennis Scores: Victoria Azarenka Rallies To Beat Maria Sharapova

Victoria Azarenka has made it to her first U.S. Open final, coming back from losing the first set to defeat Maria Sharapova, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. The match lasted two hours and 35 minutes.

Azarenka double-faulted twice in the first set to lose two break points en route to a set loss, but then Sharapova would double-fault herself on a break point and lose her final point in the second. The third set was highly contested and filled with great rallies (lasting 67 minutes overall), with Azarenka finally breaking Sharapova on the final point.

Sharapova seemingly had a more dominant match, piling up eight aces to Azarenka's zero and racking up 43 winners to Azarenka's 18. But Sharapova also committed 40 unforced errors to cancel out most of her success, with Azarenka only making 18. Sharapova had 10 double faults compared to Azarenka's five. Azarenka hit 73% on first serve points won (compared to 66% for Sharapova) and 39% on second serve points won (compared to 32% for Sharapova).

Azarenka will face the winner of the Serena Williams vs. Sara Errani matchup in the championship round.

For a full look at all matches, head to the U.S. Open's official website.

For all your U.S. Open updates, check out SB Nation's tennis hub.

2012 U.S. Open Scores: Bryan Brothers Win Fourth U.S. Open Doubles Title

Bob and Mike Bryan have won their fourth doubles title at the U.S Open, defeating fifth-seeded Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.

The Americans managed two breaks, and did not allow a break all match.

This was a repeat match-up of the 2012 Australian Open, where Paes-Stepanek were victorious. The Bryans won the gold medal in doubles tennis in the London Olympics last month.

For the American twins, it is their 12th Grand Slam Championship.

This afternoon, Maria Sharapova (3) will take on Victoria Azarenka (1) and Serena Williams (4) will battle Sara Errani (10) in the women's semifinals. Those can be seen on CBS.

On Saturday, the men's semifinals will begin at 11 AM in Arthur Ashe Stadium: Tomas Berdych (6) vs. Andy Murray (3) followed immediately by David Ferrer (4) vs. Novak Djokovic (2). These will also be on CBS.

For a full look at all matches, head to the U.S. Open's official website.

For all your U.S. Open updates, check out SB Nation's tennis hub.

U.S. Open 2012 Bracket: Semifinals Set For Men, Women

Friday's action at the U.S. Open tennis tournament features the women's semifinals and men's doubles final.

In the women's singles semifinals, it's top-seeded Viktoria Azarenka vs. No. 3 seed Maria Sharapova at 1:45 p.m. ET, and No. 4 seed American Serena Williams against the surprise semifinalist, 10th-seeded Sara Errani of Italy at 3:45 p.m. ET. Both of those matches will air on CBS.

Preceding the semifinals will be the No. 2-seed Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, playing for the men's doubles title against Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek at Noon, also on CBS.

Saturday's daytime action begins at Noon on CBS and is devoted to the men's semifinals, as Andy Murray tries to follow up his Olympic gold medal with a Grand Slam title. Murray has two more matches to win, and faces upset winner Tomas Berdych in the three-seed vs. six-seed match.

The other semifinal was set Thursday when No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 4 seed David Ferrer won their respective quarterfinal matches. Ferrer needed five sets and 4 hours, 41 minutes to move on.

The night session is the women's final, which is on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

On Sunday, the men's final takes place at 4 p.m. ET on CBS.

Fans can view the brackets here.

For more updates on the 2012 U.S. Open, check out SB Nation's tennis hub. Live scores can be viewed at the event's website.

2012 U.S. Open Tennis Results: Djokovic, Ferrer Gain Semifinal Berths Thursday

A classic showdown between No. 4 David Ferrer and No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic in a quarterfinal meeting dramatically highlighted Thursday's action from the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

After a back-and-forth battle, a fifth-set tiebreaker was required to decide the match, with the Spaniard Ferrer outlasting Tipsarevic, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to reach the semifinals at the year's final major tournament.

No. 2 Novak Djokovic joined fourth-ranked Ferrer in the semis with a straight-set victory over No. 7 Juan Martin del Potro during the night session, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

In doubles action, the unranked duo of Russian Ekaterina Makarova and Brazilian Bruno Soares teamed up to capture the mixed doubles title at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, downing No. 4 Kveta Peschke and Marcin Matkowski.

The men's and women's doubles finals were also set on Thursday with No. 2 Bob and Mike Bryan set to take on No. 5 Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek. The Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, ranked second, will take on No. 3 Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic after both duos were victorious on Thursday.

To stay updated with the U.S. Open, stick with this StoryStream and check out SB Nation's tennis hub.