Tennis-U.S. Open draws a record 1 million fans over three weeks

By Karl Plume

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than a million fans passed through the gates of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center over three weeks of U.S. Open qualifying and main draw play, the most ever for the year's final Grand Slam, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) said on Sunday.

The record 1,048,669 fans represented an 8% increase over 2023 and included a record 832,640 attendees during the two weeks of main draw matches, the USTA said.

The tournament wrapped up on Sunday after world No. 1 Jannik Sinner defeated 12th seed Taylor Fritz in the men's final.

World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka beat sixth seed Jessica Pegula on Saturday to claim the women's title.

(Reporting by Karl Plume in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)