1956 U.S. National Championships – Women's singles
# 1956 U.S. National Championships – Women's singles

First-seeded Shirley Fry defeated Althea Gibson 6–3, 6–4 in the final to win the women's singles tennis title at the 1956 U.S. National Championships.

## Seeds

The seeded players are listed below. Shirley Fry is the champion; others show in brackets the round in which they were eliminated.

* Shirley Fry (champion)
* Althea Gibson (finalist)
* Louise Brough (quarterfinals)
* Dorothy Knode (quarterfinals)
* Margaret duPont (quarterfinals)
* Shirley Bloomer (semifinals)
* Betty Pratt (semifinals)
* Darlene Hard (quarterfinals)

## Draw

### Key

* Q = Qualifier
* WC = Wild card
* LL = Lucky loser
* r = Retired

### Final eight

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Shirley Fry | 6 | 4 | 6 | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | Margaret duPont | 2 | 6 | 3 | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | Margaret duPont | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | Shirley Fry | 6 | 6 | | | | |
| | | | | | 6 | Shirley Bloomer | 4 | 4 | | | | |
| 6 | Shirley Bloomer | 6 | 6 | | 6 | Shirley Bloomer | 4 | 4 | | | | |
| 3 | Louise Brough | 3 | 3 | | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | Louise Brough | 3 | 3 | | | | | | 1 | Shirley Fry | 6 | 6 |
| | | | | | | | | | 2 | Althea Gibson | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | Dorothy Knode | 6 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | | 2 | Althea Gibson | 3 | 4 |
| 7 | Betty Pratt | 4 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Betty Pratt | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | Betty Pratt | 1 | 8 | | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | Althea Gibson | 6 | 10 | | | | |
| 8 | Darlene Hard | 7 | 1 | | 2 | Althea Gibson | 6 | 10 | | | | |
| 2 | Althea Gibson | 9 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
