Airing for the final time on CBS, the U.S. Open women’s final delivered solid numbers Sunday afternoon.
The Serena Williams/Caroline Wozniacki U.S. Open women’s final drew a 4.0 overnight rating on CBS Sunday, down 18% from Williams/Victoria Azarenka last year (4.9) but up a tick from Williams/Azarenka in 2012 (3.9). The 4.0 overnight is the fourth-highest for the final since 2002, trailing last year, 2008 (4.3) and 2011 (4.2).
With that said, the 4.0 is also the second-lowest for a U.S. Open final involving Serena or her sister Venus Williams.
Dating back to Venus’ first U.S. Open final in 1997, the ten U.S. Open singles finals to involve one or both of the Williams sisters rank as the ten highest rated in the metered markets. The top telecast, not surprisingly, was the first Grand Slam final between Venus and Serena in 2001 (7.7).
The top non-Williams final over that span featured perhaps the only other marquee name in women’s tennis — Maria Sharapova. Her 2006 victory drew a 3.2 overnight.
Excluding NFL games, the women’s final tied the second-highest overnight for any sporting event on broadcast over the weekend. Only the USC/Stanford college football game did better (4.6).
(Sun. overnight from Sports Business Daily)
