The tennis season's final grand slam begins this week at the US Open in New York. As usual, the women's draw features plenty of subplots and storylines, and Ahmed Rizvi takes a look inside some of the compelling numbers.
4 – The number of former champions in the women's draw of the US Open. Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova (2004) and Maria Sharapova (2006), and Samantha Stosur (2011) of Australia each has won the title once, while American Serena Williams is the only multiple US Open winner in the fray.
5 – The number of times Serena Williams has won the US women's singles crown. Her initial triumph, the first of her 17 majors, came in 1999. She lost to sister Venus in the 2001 final, but avenged the defeat in the 2002 final. She won in 2008 and again the past two years.
78 – The combined age of two-time defending champion Venus Williams and Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm, who meet in the opening round. Venus turned 34 in June, while Date-Krumm, who started as a professional in 1988 and took a 12-year break in the middle of her career, turns 44 on September 28.
15 – Catherine Bellis was three weeks old when Venus Williams won her first WTA Tour title in 1999. Now 15, the American will make her first appearance at a grand slam, against 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova. Bellis earned a wildcard after winning the USTA's 18-and-under championship.
7 – Childhood friends Maria Sharapova and Maria Kirilenko have played against each other seven times in the past and Sharapova, the 2006 US Open champion, holds a 5-2 edge going into their first-round clash. Kirilenko's two wins have come five years apart – at Beijing in 2005 and at the 2010 Australian Open.
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