2024 US Open projected women’s singles seeds: Coco Gauff suffers major setback as five American women feature

Coco Gauff has been the big loser in terms of the seedings ahead of her US Open title defence following her early exit from the Cincinnati Open.

The 20-year-old was the defending champion at the Cincinnati WTA 1000 event, but she suffered a shock second-round loss to Yulia Putintseva to drop to third in the Live WTA Rankings with Aryna Sabalenka moving up one spot while Iga Swiatek remains clear at No 1.

With the 2024 US Open seedings based on the August 19 rankings, it means Gauff will be seeded third at Flushing Meadows and it makes her path to possible glory a little trickier

If the seedings hold, then the American will face either Swiatek or Sabalenka in the semi-final.

But there is good news for Gauff as last year she was seeded sixth and ended up beating Sabalenka in three sets in the final to win her maiden Grand Slam.

The top three seedings for the US Open have been set with Elena Rybakina currently occupying the fourth spot, but she could still lose that place to Jasmine Paolini (currently fifth) although the Italian will need to win the Cincinnati Open to move up.

They are followed by Jessica Pegula, Qinwen Zheng, Barbora Krejcikova, Maria Sakkari and Jelena Ostapenko.

Pegula and Zheng are still active in Cincinnati, but they can only move up one place if they enjoy an extended run.

Gauff and Pegula are among five American women currently in the top 32 of the Live Rankings with Danielle Collins (11), Emma Navarro (13) and Madison Keys (14) assured of being seeded for their home Grand Slam.

For Navarro, it will be the first time that she will be seeded for the US Open as last year she was still outside the top 50 for the season-ending major.