[3] On August 23, the annual Arthur Ashe Kids Day was held; Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic, and Serena Williams led the player participation.

[8][9] In the women's competition, Jelena Janković, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Marion Bartoli, Victoria Azarenka, Patty Schnyder, Caroline Wozniacki, Francesca Schiavone, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Katarina Srebotnik, and Sybille Bammer all made safe passage into the second round.

[10] Nadal's Olympic counterpart, Elena Dementieva, made hard work of her win against Akgul Amanmuradova,[11] and former champion Lindsay Davenport, playing the US Open for the first time since her return to the sport from a break due to motherhood,[12] beat recent Bank of the West Classic winner Aleksandra Wozniak[13] in a comfortable two sets.

[19][20] Agnieszka Radwańska, Ágnes Szávay, Flavia Pennetta, Alizé Cornet, Nadia Petrova, Nicole Vaidišová, Alona Bondarenko, Dominika Cibulková, and former world number one Amélie Mauresmo all scored victories to enter the second round.

Andy Roddick produced a sterling performance to defeat Fabrice Santoro 6–2, 6–2, 6–2, and Nikolay Davydenko, who entered the tournament on a poor run of form was, by his own admission, surprisingly efficient in dispatching Dudi Sela 6–3, 6–3, 6–3.

[24][25] Nicolás Almagro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Radek Štěpánek, and Marin Čilić won their matches to claim places in the second round, meaning that no seeds were knocked out on Day 3.

[27] The second round of the men's singles commenced, and David Nalbandian, Stanislas Wawrinka, Ivo Karlović, Gilles Simon, and Juan Martín del Potro all reached the final sixty-four of the draw.

Three seeds who faced sterner tests from their opponents were David Ferrer, who won a battling contest against Andreas Beck in four sets, Andy Murray, who was inconsistent in defeating Michaël Llodra 6–4, 1–6, 7–5, 7–6(7),[29] and American James Blake, who was tied 4–6, 6–3, 1–0 with Steve Darcis before the Belgian's retirement.

Two upsets occurred on Day 4: one involved Philipp Kohlschreiber, who retired against the Legg Mason Tennis Classic finalist of a fortnight previous, Viktor Troicki,[6] at 2–6, 6–3, 6–4, 3–0 down; the other saw Paul-Henri Mathieu beaten by American Mardy Fish 6–2, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4.

A top ten seed who had greater problems progressing was Dinara Safina, who was troubled by her own unpredictable manner of play in defeating Roberta Vinci 6–4, 6–3; Agnieszka Radwańska, Nadia Petrova, Flavia Pennetta, Alizé Cornet, and Dominika Cibulková also came through.

[31][36] Roger Federer and Nikolay Davydenko completed easy wins, over Thiago Alves and Agustín Calleri respectively, to reach the third round on the fifth day of play at Flushing Meadows.

Other seeds to make progress were Fernando Verdasco, Nicolás Almagro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Igor Andreev, Dmitry Tursunov, Radek Štěpánek, Marin Čilić, and Andreas Seppi.

[42] Nishikori set up a tie with Juan Martín del Potro, who stretched his winning run to 22 matches with a 6–4, 6–7(4), 6–1, 3–6, 6–3 triumph over Gilles Simon, who was seeded one place higher than him at sixteenth.

[45] Milestones were also being set in the women's competition, as Anna-Lena Grönefeld (who beat number seventeen seed Alizé Cornet) became the first qualifier to reach the fourth round of the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996.

Novak Djokovic, facing the number thirty seed and recent Pilot Pen Tennis champion Marin Čilić,[39] was severely tested by the 19-year-old, but won through 6–7(7), 7–5, 6–4, 7–6(0) in four hours.

Finally, qualifier Gilles Müller, who had not won three successive Tour level matches since July 2005 coming into the event, beat a second opponent after being two sets to love down (this time number eighteen Nicolás Almagro) in consecutive rounds, 6–7(3), 3–6, 7–6(5), 7–6,(6) 7–5.

Janković, who faced a similarly stern test versus Wozniacki at Wimbledon,[50] was sluggish in the opening set, but proved dangerous on the rebound, as she took the next two losing only three games, and played in a more aggressive manner.

Elena Dementieva cruised to victory against Li Na, and fifteenth seed Patty Schnyder beat Katarina Srebotnik to reach her second US Open quarterfinal, her first having come ten years earlier.

Mauresmo, a former world number one and two-time Grand Slam champion, played an error-strewn match, in which she served 14 double faults and hit 40 unforced errors.

Federer, aiming for his fifth consecutive Open title, was playing twenty-sixth seed Igor Andreev in one of the scheduled night matches on the Arthur Ashe Stadium;[57] he was victorious in five sets, 6–7(5), 7–6(5), 6–3, 3–6, 6–3.

The nineteen-year-old del Potro, who was playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, hailed Murray as one of "best players in the world" in his press conference; however, he was unable to finish the round of questioning, and left midway through in tears.

A substantial part of "Super Saturday", as it often known (because the men's semifinals and women's final are played on the same day, something unique among the Grand Slam events),[81] was called off due to rain.

[71] Ultimately, with one men's match finished, and another half-way completed, the organizers decided to designate a fifteenth day's play, with the women's final having been cancelled due to ongoing rain.

Play resumed on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and Nadal won all three of his service games, fending off one break point from Murray in the process, to win the third set.

Murray, who came into the match having failed to beat Nadal in five previous encounters, became the first Briton, male or female, since Greg Rusedski at the 1997 Open to reach the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament.

"[95] The match was preceded by an opening ceremony that included Anita Baker singing the US national anthem, a group of people moving a gigantic American flag over the court, and a coin toss performed by Billie Jean King.

At the time, Williams joined an elite group of six women who had won nine or more Grand Slam titles in the open era, equaling Monica Seles's tally with this triumph.

[100] Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray in straight sets 6–2, 7–5, 6–2, to claim his fifth consecutive title, thus cementing his place in history as the first man since Bill Tilden in 1924 to have achieved this feat.

[105] Murray, who expressed confidence coming into the final, said that this small positive record stood for little, and he, along with a number of commentators, including former Wimbledon champions Pat Cash and Michael Stich,[106] acknowledged Federer to be the favorite, despite his disappointing year.

[123] Three American boys made the semifinals, making this the most successful tournament for the home nation since 2000, when Andy Roddick, Ytai Abougzir, and Robby Ginepri all reached that stage.