King and Shvedova win US Open women's doubles title

King and Shvedova win US Open women's doubles title

In a match that spanned two days, Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova defeated Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4), to win the 2010 US Open Women's Doubles title.

"This has been an incredible two weeks and one day," said Shvedova.

Play resumed at 3 p.m. on Monday after the match was suspended on Sunday during the final set following a three-hour rain delay. King and Shvedova were down 5-4 on serve in the third set with King serving at 0-15.

"I was a bit nervous because I was serving and a point down on my serve. I was concentrating on getting the first serve in," said King.

"I want to congratulate two great opponents today," said Huber, the top-ranked women's doubles player in the world.

Ler Mais

Rafael Nadal creates history in USopen final

Rafael Nadal creates history in USopen final

Rafael Nadal cemented his place in history with a four-set victory over Novak Djokovic in the US Open final.

With this win Nadal becomes only the fourth man after Rod Laver, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer to have won all four Grand Slams in the Open Era.

He said: "(Winning the US Open) is more than I dreamt, just to arrive to the final was amazing and to have the trophy in my hands in a few seconds with my heart beating is going to be unbelievable."

Of his opponent, Nadal added: "First thing, I would like to congratulate Novak and all his team for a great tournament, you're a great player and you're going to win this trophy very soon, I'm sure of that.

"I want to congratulate you for a great attitude after losing a Grand Slam final, that's a great example for the kids."

In turn Djokovic said: "It's a great honour to be here.

"I would like first to congratulate Rafa and his team for an amazing tournament.

"Right now he is the best player in the world and he absolutely deserves this title, well done."

Ler Mais

Men's final postponed due to rain US Open

Men's final postponed due to rain US Open

Rafael Nadal will have to wait at least one more day for a chance to complete his collection of grand slam titles after persistent rain washed out Sunday's US Open men's final against Novak Djokovic.

For the third year in a row, the championship decider was postponed until Monday after foul weather ruined any chance of the match proceeding as scheduled. Rain began falling less than two hours before the match was due to begin, forcing a halt to the women's doubles final that was nearing completion in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

About three and a half hours later, with no end in sight to the downpour, tournament officials decided to abandon play and reschedule the men's final at 4 p.m.

"Due to the continued uncertainty of the weather forecast for the remainder of the evening, and with the desire to be fair to the players and to our fans, the US Open men's singles championship will be postponed until Monday," tournament organisers said in a statement.

"I'm sure I will be fit to play my best tennis." The postponement once again raised questions about why there is no roof over centre court at the US Open. The centre courts at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon have retractable roofs while organisers of the French Open are in talks about covering up their main court. But US Tennis Association officials have balked at the idea because of the cost of covering Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis stadium in the world.

"It's technically complex and financially challenging," USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said. "At a cost of more than $ 150 million, do you spend that on a roof or continue to fund grassroots tennis programs in this country?"

Ler Mais

Kim Clijsters wins her third US Open title

Kim Clijsters wins her third US Open title

In yet another rousing performance in a US Open final, Kim Clijsters decimated Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 to win her third title in New York.

Moving swiftly, serving accurately and dominating action off the ground, the Belgian and part-time New Jersey resident set a record for the least amount of time played in dispatching the Russian in 59 minutes (officials began to keep time records in 1980). It was the most one-sided final at the US Open since American Chris Evert smoked Evonne Goolagong 6-3, 6-0 in 1976.

"I'm very excited that I was able to defend my title. It is always an honor to go back to a place, especially a Grand Slam, where you've done well and you've won. You obviously want to bring your best tennis again," Clijsters said. "Obviously tennis wise I knew that if I would bring my best, that I'm capable of beating a lot of the top players."

"Obviously when I started my U.S. summer, the US Open was my main goal," Clijsters said. "I wasn't playing my best tennis when I wanted to in the beginning. But I was able to lift my game in the last two matches when I needed it to. That's obviously what probably I'm most pleased with over these last 14 days - that I was able to do that."

Ler Mais

Americans Huber, King on opposite sides of women's doubles final

Americans Huber, King on opposite sides of women's doubles final

An American will be crowned one-half of the women's doubles championship team after Liezel Huber teamed with Russian Nadia Petrova to defeat Yung-Jan Chan and Jie Zheng, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals Friday.

Huber, a 34-year-old who was born in South Africa and became an American citizen in 2007, is a four-time Grand Slam champion with former partner Cara Black. Petrova will be playing her first major final of any kind.

Their opponents will be 21-year-old Californian Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. King and Shvedova are the reigning Wimbledon champions, eliminating both of their opponents in Sunday's final along the way.

The teams of Huber & Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Petrova & Samantha Stosur each lost to King and Shvedova, 6-4, 6-4, at Wimbledon.

Ler Mais

Clijsters comes back to defeat Venus and reach final

Clijsters comes back to defeat Venus and reach final

"It obviously means a lot to be in the final and to give myself a chance to defend my title from last year. It's a great opportunity," Clijsters said. "But obviously beating Venus here last year and this year, it's a good feeling. I think today was probably one of the best matches that I've played throughout the tournament."

"I was able to raise my level, and that's probably what I'm most pleased about, is obviously that I was able to win a close match like this, but that I was able to kind of rise to the occasion when I had to," Clijsters said.

"I think I played a lot of big points, but I think obviously in the tiebreak I wasn't able to play as well as I wanted. I had too many errors, and she played some good tennis," Williams said. "Obviously extremely disappointing not to be able to win this match today. I feel like the last few times I've played her I haven't been at my top, I haven't been very healthy. So knowing that I can still obviously almost win, you know, I'm just looking forward to the last time, where I can be a lot closer to 100 percent and play even better."

"I mean, it's instinct when you decide to do that, and it worked," Clijsters said of the great lob. "I mean, it worked. It was an important point, and I'm happy to get through."

"She's a very tough opponent," Clijsters said of Zvonareva. "Obviously, I've lost my last two matches against her that we've played against each other, so it's gonna be a tough battle. She's a player who doesn't give you much. She's always there, hangs in there. It's not that she has a game that's very unpredictable, but what she does she does extremely well."

Ler Mais

Indo-Pak tennis duo look to promote peace

Indo-Pak tennis duo look to promote peace

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, the new face of Indo-Pak solidarity, may have lost in the US Open 2010 finals, but their ability to close rifts between the neighbours is being hailed by many.

"These things are not meant to achieve anything directly but these will embellish the peace process," Abduallah Hussain Haroon, Pakistan's envoy to the UN, said.

Urging people to think "out of the box", he said: "Some people say this is a 'romantic vision' but it is better to have this vision than to fall prey to the status quo."

The pair, seeded 16th, however, lost to the Bryan brothers in straight sets 6-7, 6-7.

In an interview with media at the US Open earlier this week, Qureshi revealed that Bopanna was a big hit in Pakistan.

"He probably doesn't know, but he is very popular in Pakistan," he said.

"We're just trying to promote peace through sports...we are not looking into any political part," said Bopanna.

"If even like 2 per cent or 3 per cent people change their minds of saying, you know, if we can both get along why can't they," he said.

Ler Mais