US Open Tennis 2016 Results: Final Look at Women's Bracket and Prize Money

Angelique Kerber emerged from the 2016 U.S. Open as the new world No. 1 and established herself as Serena Williams' first genuine rival in years.

The 28-year-old German beat an impressive Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in Saturday's final at Flushing Meadows to claim her second Grand Slam title of 2016, as she won the Australian Open back in January.

She picked up the winning cheque of $3.5 million, while Pliskova pocketed $1.75 million after reaching her first-ever major final—the Czech had never previously made it past the third round at a Grand Slam—per the U.S. Open.

Seed	Player	Lost to	Round
1	Serena Williams	Karolina Pliskova	SF
2	Angelique Kerber	Champion	F
3	Garbine Muguruza	Anastasija Sevastova	R2
4	Agnieszka Radwanska	Ana Konjuh	R4
5	Simona Halep	Serena Williams	QF
6	Venus Williams	Karolina Pliskova	R4
7	Roberta Vinci	Angelique Kerber	QF
8	Madison Keys	Caroline Wozniacki	R4
9	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Caroline Wozniacki	R2
10	Karolina Pliskova	Angelique Kerber	F
11	Carla Suarez Navarro	Simona Halep	R4
12	Dominika Cibulkova	Lesia Tsurenko	R3
13	Johanna Konta	Anastasija Sevastova	R4
14	Petra Kvitova	Angelique Kerber	R4
15	Timea Bacsinszky	Varvara Lepchenko	R2
16	Samantha Stosur	Shuai Zhang	R2

The full women's bracket for 2016's tournament can be found here.

For Williams, who will lose her No. 1 ranking to Kerber on Monday having sat atop the pile for 186 weeks, there was not to be a fourth major final of 2016 or a 23rd Grand Slam title.

After her Wimbledon defeat of Kerber followed defeats in the finals of the Australian Open and French Open, Williams' tournament was stopped at the last-four stage in New York by Pliskova.

Kerber's achievements this year put her firmly alongside Williams, 34, in the women's game, and it will be tough for the American to wrestle her No. 1 spot back, per the Press Association's Tom Allnutt:

Elsewhere in the women's bracket, former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki enjoyed a resurgent tournament as she made the semi-finals—before losing to Kerber—to claim her best Grand Slam result since 2014's U.S. Open final defeat.

Fifth seed Simona Halep made the last eight before she fell in three sets to Williams, while 18-year-old Croatian Ana Konjuh announced herself as a potential future Grand Slam winner.

Per tennis commentator David Law, her fourth-round defeat of No. 4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska was mighty impressive:

French Open champion Garbine Muguruza endured a disappointing tournament as she lost in the second round to Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.

Per the New York Times' Christopher Clarey, the 22-year-old will retain her No. 3 ranking but has not enjoyed a huge amount of success since her impressive win at Roland Garros, also falling in the second round at Wimbledon in June:

There were a handful of impressive performances at Flushing Meadows, notably Pliskova, 24, who carried her form over from winning the Western & Southern Open last month and looks as though she will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming seasons. 

Kerber, however, was unquestionably the star in New York as she firmly established herself as Williams' key rival for the top spot in the women's game and claimed a rare second Grand Slam win in a season.