After two days of rain delays at the US Open, both Leander Paes and Rennae Stubbs took to the court yesterday to complete their Doubles matches. In the Men's Doubles finals, Leander and partner Lukas Dlouhy dropped the first set 3-6 but rallied to win the next two, 6-3, 6-2, and capture their second Grand Slam title of the year. Congratulations to Leander on a summer filled with Championships that started with winning the French Open Men's Doubles title and ended with the US Open title and was highlighted inbetween with leading the Kastles to the WTT Championship and being named the league MVP.
Immediately prior to Leander's match on Armstrong, Rennae and partner Samantha Stosur completed their suspended semifinal match from Saturday versus the top-seeded team of Liezel Huber and Cara Black. After winning the first set 7-5 on Saturday, they dropped the second and third sets, 6-3, 6-1. Black and Huber will next face Serena and Venus Williams today on the final day of the Open in the Women's Doubles Championship.
In the Men's Doubles Final, Leander and Lukas faced Leander's long-time doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles. Since splitting as partners in 2000, Leander and Mahesh entered this match an even 9-9 in doubles matches against each other. To win the doubles title, however, Paes and Dlouhy would have to overcome Leander's sore shoulder.
Bhupathi and Knowles jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first set after breaking Leander, but Leander and Lukas fought back to break back to even the match at two games. After Leander was broken again at 2-3, Knowles held serve to go up 5-2. Dlouhy held to close the margin to 3-5, but Bhupathi held serve in the longest game of the match to take the first set 6-3.
Bhupathi and Knowles jumped to an early lead again in the second set after they broke Lukas' serve in the first game and then Bhupathi held at love to go up 2-0. Down a set and a break, Leander held on to win his serve and then broke Knowles to even the set at 2-2. After Lukas held his serve, they broke Bhupathi to take a 4-2 lead in a long hard fought game. However, Leander was broken at love to put the set back on serve at 4-3. Bhupathi missed a backhand volley on a break point in the next game to bring Leander and Lukas to a 5-3 lead and then Dlouhy held serve to even the match at one set apiece.
With momentum solidly on their side, Leander and Lukas broke Knowles to go up 2-1 in the third set. Then, in the key game of the match, Leander fought off three break points to hold serve. After both teams held serve, Paes and Dlouhy broke Knowles to take a commanding 5-2 lead in the set. Leander served for what became the final game of the match and the US Open Championship.
In the day's earlier match, Rennae and Samatha began play with a one set lead over Huber and Black. Before the match was suspended on Saturday, Stubbs and Stosur had seized the momentum by winning the final four games of the first set, but Sunday would prove to be an entirely different story with Cara Black and Liezel Huber showing from the beginning why they are the top-ranked doubles team in the world.
With the second set even at 2-2, Black and Huber overcame a break point to take a 3-2 lead and then broke Stosur's serve to go up 4-2. When Rennae and Samantha were unable to capitalize on another break point, Black and Huber increased their lead to 5-2. In the next game Rennae fought off two set points to close the margin to 3-5, but Black and Huber prevailed to win the second set.
Black and Huber put the match out of reach early in the third set by breaking Rennae and Samantha in their first two service games and going up 4-0 on break point in the third game. From there, Black and Huber cruised the rest of the way for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 semifinal victory. They will play the Williams sisters today in the US Open Women's Doubles Final; a rematch of their semifinal encounter at Wimbledon this year which Serena and Venus won.
Local Juniors, Denis Kudla and Beatrice Capra, who train at College Park's Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC), both dropped tough matches this weekend in the quarterfinals of the Junior Boys and Girls Singles draw. Denis, seeded 16th lost to Gianni Minna, seeded 8th, 6-2, 6-7 (7-4), 3-6; and Beatrice, also seeded 16th, was defeated by unseeded Yana Buchina 4-6, 6-2, 4-6. Congratulations to Denis and Beatrice for a great showing at this year's US Open. We know we will be seeing a lot of both of them in the year's to come.
Don't miss the Kastles vie for their second US Open Championship today as Serena and Venus battle Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the Women's Doubles Final at 1:00 in Arthur Ashe Stadium. You can watch the match live on ESPN2 or online by going to usopen.org and clicking on the "Watch Live" button.
Kastles Players at the US Open
Women's Singles (Overall record 8-2)
Serena Williams - Lost in Semifinals to Kim Clijsters
Nadia Petrova - Lost in Fourth Round to Melanie Oudin
Women's Doubles (12-2)
Rennae Stubbs (w/Sam Stosur) - Lost in Semifinals to Black/Huber
*Serena Williams (w/Venus) - Finals vs. Black/Huber
Nadia Petrova (w/Mattek-Sands) - Lost in Quarterfinals to Stubbs/Stosur
Men's Doubles (6-0)
Leander Paes (w/Dlouhy) - Men's Doubles Champions
Mixed Doubles (6-3)
Leander Paes (w/Black) - Lost in Finals to Parrott/Gullickson
Rennae Stubbs (w/Linnstedt) - Lost in Quarterfinals to Paes/Black
Nadia Petrova (w/Miryni) - Lost in First Round to Parrott/Gullickson
*Still in contention for US Open Title
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