A rain interrupted opening day at the US Open failed to put a dampener on the quality of tennis at the final Grand Slam of the year as the women's seeds by and large made quick work of their opponents, powering their way into Round 2. Leading the way were the big three in the top half of the draw Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova, while also advancing was emotional favourite Kim Clijsters of Belgium.

Top seed Victoria Azarenka appeared to be in a hurry to make up for lost time as she blitzed past Russian Alexandra Panova, losing just the solitary game in a 6-0, 6-1 thumping of her 23-year old opponent. She will face Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in the second round, who battled her way past Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

The first day of the US Open witnessed the women's defending champion, Samantha Stosur steamroll past her unseeded Croatian opponent, Petra Martic 6-1, 6-1 in just 51 minutes in an amazing display of power tennis to book a spot in the 2nd round and in the process, firmly stamped her position as a legitimate contender for the title at this year's Open. Also proceeding to round 2 was the 2011 French Open champion and the 9th seed, Li Na who was given a bit more of a work out by her British opponent, Heather Watson but managed to pass through unscathed using her superior groundstrokes and serve to brush aside the challenge of her opponent. However, the 16th seed, an out of sorts Sabine Lisicki did not enjoy the fortunes of her fellow seeds, bowing out of this year's final Grand Slam against her Romanian opponent, Sorana Cirstea, 4-6 6-2 6-2 to become the first seeded casualty at this year's Open.

First up on Arthur Ashe Stadium was the defending champion, Samantha Stosur who started dominating proceedings right from the outset against her unheralded opponent using her vicious serve and powerful groundstrokes to extremely good effect. The domination started reaching new heights as the Australian raced to a 5-0 lead for the loss of just 2 points, leaving the crowd awestruck and mesmerized. Martic finally made the scorekeepers work, putting a halt to the breaking spree of the Australian after a rather protracted game, which she managed to scrape through to force the Australian to serve for the set. Stosur did just that, slamming two more aces en route to bag the first set in just 22 minutes. Even though, the Serbian managed to offer slightly more resistance in the second set, she could do nothing to derail the "Australian Express" off her unnerving rhythm as the defending campion continued to dictate the tempo from the back of the court, keeping her opponent constantly on the run.  The 7th seed also appeared to have taken her serve to another level, raking up aces at whim, hitting a total of 10 to storm her way towards the 2nd round of the year's last Grand Slam. The final score was 6-1, 6-1 in the Australian's favor.

With the withdrawal of the 3rd ranked Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, from this year's US Open due to tendinitis, all eyes were fixated on the de-facto 3rd seed and new Olympic Champion Andy Murray to see who among the top two seeds would end up with the daunting prospect of clashing with the British no.1 in the semi-finals. The unlucky one turned out to be the 5-time US Open champion and world no.1, Roger Federer. The defending champion and the two-time finalist, Novak Djokovic, was, meanwhile, dealt with the Spanish 4th seed David Ferrer in the bottom half of the draw.

Coming right on the heels of a record-breaking 5th Cincinnati title, the Swiss Maestro would be looking to add yet another page to his already thick book of records by capturing a record-breaking 6th US Open title with the draw also appearing to aid Federer's quest - the only genuine threat in his quarter coming in the form of 6th seed, Tomas Berdych, whom he is expected to face-off with in the quarters. In the first round, the top seed is scheduled to face the American youngster, Donald Young, who experienced a historic run of his own, albeit in a negative light, losing 17 consecutive matches before managing to notch up a win in the Winston-Salem Open. Other possible challengers for Federer include Mardy Fish and Fernando Verdasco, but the legendary Swiss would be expected to make his way past both men comfortably enough.

Novak Djokovic cemented his position as the best tennis player in the world currently as he defeated Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-1. In an intense final that belied the scoreline, the Serb exacted sweet retribution reversing the result from last year to capture his first US Open crown. The win gave Djokovic his third slam, 10^th title and took his win-loss to an incredible 64-2 in 2011. Djokovic's primeval scream at the end signified how much the win meant to him and he suggested as much post match, “It's an incredible feeling. It's an absolute pleasure to be one of the few players to have won this trophy”. Nadal was understandably disappointed after the match, but was appreciative of Novak's display saying “I lost a lot of finals against him. He is doing great things this year”.

It isn't often that a match with this kind of scoreline is elevated to the status of a classic. But when 4 sets take over four hours, when a game lasts an average of 7 minutes and when nearly every point sees an intensity that stretches the players to and beyond their limits, it deserves to be exalted to those realms. For Novak Djokovic, it was a case of using all that he had gained from a year of dominance. The bedrock of confidence bred from these triumphs manifested itself in his willingness to be the aggressor from the outset; his 5 prior wins over his opponent made Nadal tentative enough for Djokovic to take control; and the combination of the two ensured that when push came to shove at the fag end, Djokovic had that deep seated belief to overcome the last flurry of punches that Nadal flung at him. From Nadal's point of view, while the loss must rankle and hurt, his display of unbridled aggression in the latter half of the third set must give him something to work with as he continues his quest to find the answer to the juggernaut that is Djokovic.

13-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams is not just a good tennis player, she is easily the best of her generation, quite possibly even in the top 10 of all time. However, there is no denying the fact that she has a vile temper which often gets the better of her.

Case in point was the 2009 US Open semi-finals where she verbally abused a lines-judge and was subsequently handed an $82,500 fine and also placed on a 3-year probation where she could face a ban should she commit a similar future offence. In the eyes of most tennis fans and pundits, Serena's outburst in Sunday night's showpiece women's singles final was perhaps not as 'bad', but wreaked of poor sportsmanship and her behaviour towards the Chair Umpire was not just unwarranted, but also completely unacceptable.

Once again Serena Williams' tryst with controversy has come to light, this time in the final of the 2011 US Open in her match against Samantha Stosur. The match was expected to be an easy win for the 13-time Grand Slam champion, as New Yorkers gathered in large numbers to support the American with an air of patriotism around Flushing Meadows as the nation paid homage to the victims of the horrific attack on the World Trade Center on the same day ten years ago. Instead fans witnessed an unworthy verbal assault on Serena's part on the chair umpire Eva Azderaki.

Having gone down a set against Australian Samantha Stosur in the final, Serena was facing a break point in the opening game of the second set. In reply she came up with a stinging forehand close to Stosur's feet and shouted an animated "Come On!", before Stosur could even get her racket to the ball. Citing that as a violation of ethics, the chair umpire found Serena guilty of 'intentional hindrance' and rightly awarded the point to the Aussie. Following that an astonished Serena lost control of her emotions and vented out her anger at the umpire.  "Aren't you the one who screwed me over the last time?", she yelled after conceding the point and the break to her opponent.