Photo by United States Tennis Association

Kaitlyn Verfuerth may have pulled the upset of the tournament in the opening round of the women's singles competition before falling in the semifinals.

This year, for the first time, the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing, N.Y. featured a wheelchair tennis tournament as part of its program. Sixteen of the top men’s and women’s players in the world competed at the U.S. Open Wheelchair Tennis Competition, which was comprised of four events (men’s and women’s singles and doubles) over a four-day span that coincided with the final four days of the U.S. Open tournament.

The tournament was dominated by players from The Netherlands as Dutch players swept the singles comepitions and made up three-fourths of the doubles champions.

Robin Ammerlaan, who entered the men’s singles tournament as the No. 2 player in the world, defeated France’s Michael Jeremiasz, 6-1, 6-3, for the men’s crown.

Esther Vergeer proved why she was rated No. 1 in the women’s draw by cruising to the women’s title, defeating fellow Dutch player Korie Homan in the final, 6-2, 6-1.

Two American women made the semifinals of the women’s tournament, the best results for U.S. players on the singles side. Karin Korb (Atlanta, Ga.) fell 6-2, 6-3 to Homan and Kaitlyn Verfuerth (Chino, Calif.) fell to Vergeer, 6-0, 6-2, but not before pulling off what may have been the biggest upset of the weekend. Verfuerth, who entered the tournament ranked No. 57 in the world, dominated The Netherlands Sonja Peters 6-0, 6-0. Peters came into the tournament ranked No. 7.

The American women’s duo of Jan Proctor (Delray Beach, Fla.) and Beth Arnoult-Ritthaler (Kula, Hawaii) made the doubles final on the women’s side before falling to Vergeer and Homan, 6-3, 6-1.

On the men’s side, the Americans were held out of the final as Ammerlaan and Jeremiasz teamed up to defeat Australia’s David Hall and Great Britain’s Jayant Mistry, 6-1, 6-2.