Featuring an American for the first time in six years and taking place in prime time on a Sunday night, the women’s final of the U.S. Open saw a big increase in ratings from last year.
Serena Williams‘ straight sets victory over Jelena Jankovic drew a 4.3/7 overnight rating on CBS Sunday, up 65% from a 2.6/5 for last year’s match-up between Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsova, which aired on a Saturday.
Ratings peaked at a 5.6/10 from 11-11:30 PM.
While the 4.3 overnight is strong compared to previous years, and marks the best overnight for the women’s final of the U.S. Open since 2002, it cannot compare to previous finals involving the Williams sisters. Prior to Sunday, only one U.S. Open final involving either Venus or Serena had drawn less than a 6.0 overnight — the 1997 final between Venus and Martina Hingis, which drew a 4.1.
In other U.S. Open ratings news, the start of the men’s semifinal between Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray averaged a 2.4/6 overnight on Saturday afternoon from 2-4:45 PM, up 14% from a 2.1 for Federer/Davydenko in a similar timeslot last year. The completion of the match on Sunday averaged a 3.8/7, off only 10% from a 4.2 for last year’s Federer/Djokovic final, which aired in the same timeslot. Roger Federer‘s semifinal win over Novak Djokovic averaged a 2.1/5 overnight on Saturday, up 17% from a 1.8 for Djokovic/Ferrer last year.
Overnight ratings for U.S. Open women’s final.
4.3/7: S. Williams/Jankovic (Sun., 9/7/08, 9 PM CBS)
2.6/5: Henin/Kuznetsova (Sat., 9/8/07, 8 PM CBS)
3.2/6: Sharapova/Henin (Sat., 9/9/06, 8 PM CBS)
3.1/6: Clijsters/Pierce (Sat., 9/10/05, 8 PM CBS)
2.5/5: Kuznetsova/Dementieva (Sat., 9/11/04, 8 PM CBS)
2.9/5: Henin/Clijsters (Sat., 9/6/03, 8 PM CBS)
7.2/13: S. Williams/V. Williams (Sat., 9/7/02, 9 PM CBS)
7.7/14: V. Williams/S. Williams (Sat., 9/8/01, 9 PM CBS)
6.7/14: V. Williams/Davenport (Sat., 9/9/00, 7 PM CBS)
7.2/17: S. Williams/Hingis (Sat., 9/11/99, 4:30 PM CBS)
