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WTT Washington Kastles

One Final and Two Semifinals Today

September 11, 2009 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


At the US Open on Thursday, Kastles players split their two matches, with Serena Williams and sister Venus (seeded fourth) advancing to the Women's Doubles Finals and Leander Paes and partner Cara Black (seeded second) falling in the Mixed Doubles Finals. Kastles players have now captured one runner-up trophy (Mixed Doubles), two spots in the finals (Men's and Women's Doubles) and two players still remain in the semifinals (Women's Singles and Doubles). Overall, the Kastles are an incredible 31-5 in the US Open. Kastles players will take a central role in today's matches as they compete for the Men's Doubles title and in semifinal matches in Women's Singles Doubles.

Yesterday, on a sunny, blustery day in Flushing Meadows, Serena and Venus Williams had to overcome the wind and the spirited team of Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova (13th Seed) on their way to the US Open Women's Doubles Final before prevailing 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2.

After falling down a break early in the first set, the Williams sisters broke back to even the set. With Serena serving at 5-6, Kleybanova and Makarova had two set points at 15-40. Serena responded with three big serves and the Williams proceeded to win the game and then first set tiebreaker 7-4.

While Serena and Venus have excelled in the second set throughout their journey in the Doubles draw, they ran into trouble yesterday. The wind seemed to help neutralize one of the Williams sisters' key assets -- their strong serves, and for the first time in the tournament they appeared a little out of sync. At one point in the set, Venus caught three consecutive service tosses before ultimately hitting her serve. Sensing an opening, Kleybanova and Makarova seized control of the second set early and broke Serena and Venus again at 3-5 to even the match at one set apiece.

In the final set, Serena and Venus regained their form and demonstrated why they are competing for their third Grand Slam Doubles title in 2009. After the set opened with three consecutive breaks, the Williams held serve to take a 3-1 lead. After yet another break, Serena served at 4-1 but was called for a foot fault on her second serve at 30-40, bringing the Russian pair back to 4-2 and only one break down. But Serena and Venus once again broke the Russians' serve and Venus served out the match to earn the Williams the victory and a berth in the Women's Doubles final. There they will face the winner of the semifinal match between Kastles teammate Rennae Stubbs and partner Samantha Stosur (seeded third) and the top-seeded pair of Cara Black and Liezel Huber. If Stubbs-Stosur prevail it will mark the third time during the US Open that Kastles teammates have faced each other.

In Thursday's second match in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Leander Paes took his perfect 9-0 US Open record into the Mixed Doubles final. Leander and Cara Black, seeded second and the defending US Open champions, faced an unlikely opponent in the unseeded wildcard team of Travis Parrott and Carly Gullickson. Parrott and Gullickson had already accomplished a rare feat in this tournament, defeating one of the Kastles, having edged Nadia Petrova and her partner Max Mirnyi in a first round thriller.

Yesterday, the underdog Americans controlled the match from start to finish. Parrott and Gullickson broke Cara Black's serve twice in the first set, to win 6-2. Their dominance continued in the second set, where they broke Black twice again. Leading 5-2 and not having yet faced a break point the entire match, Parrott and Gullickson ran into resistance when Leander raised his game. After breaking Gullickson's serve, Leander won his service game to bring the set to 5-4. However, Parrott, the 2008 WTT Male Rookie of the Year with the Philadelphia Freedoms, held serve at love to close out the match and the championship.

Today, Leander will have another opportunity to capture a US Open title when he and partner Lukas Dlouhy, the 2008 US Open runners-up and this year's fourth seed, face Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Mark Knowles (seeded third) in the Men's Doubles Final in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The match is scheduled to be aired on CBS.

To start the day, Serena will take on Kim Clijsters in a much anticipated Women's Singles semifinals match. The match is scheduled as the first match of the day at 12:30 pm in Arthur Ashe Stadium and will be aired on CBS. Rennae and partner Samantha Stosur (seeded third) will compete against defending US Open Champions and top-seeded pair, Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the semifinals of Women's Doubles as the second match on Court 11.

The Kastles are not the only local talent excelling at the US Open - Dennis Kudla and Beatrice Capra, who train at the Tennis Center of College Park's Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC), have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Junior Boys and Girls Singles draw both with tough three set victories today. Denis, seeded 16th, will face the number eight seeded Gianni Minna today and Beatrice, also seeded 16th, will take on Yana Buchina. Denis and Beatrice are latest in a long line of successful players from JTCC which has produced 11 players over the past five years who have won National Championships or achieved No. 1 National Rankings.

Don't forget you can watch your favorite Kastles players as they fight for their 2009 US Open titles, and all of the remaining US Open action live even if you are not in Flushing Meadows. Today tune into CBS starting at 12:30 pm to watch Serena's Women's Singles semifinal match and Leander's Men's Doubles finals.

US Open TV coverage of the finals and semifinals continues through the weekend on CBS and ESPN2 and those matches which are not on CBS are available, free of charge, via online streaming at usopen.org. Simply click on the button "Watch Live", and select any of the live matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, the Grandstand or on the side courts.

Kastles Players at the US Open

Women's Singles (Overall record 8-1)

*Serena Williams - Semifinals vs. Kim Clijsters

Nadia Petrova - Lost in Fourth Round to Melanie Oudin

Women's Doubles (12-1)

*Rennae Stubbs (w/Sam Stosur) - Semifinals vs. Black/Huber

*Serena Williams (w/Venus) - Finals vs. winner of Stubbs/Stosur vs. Black/Huber

Nadia Petrova (w/Mattek-Sands) - Lost in Quarterfinals to Stubbs/Stosur

Men's Doubles (5-0)

*Leander Paes (w/Dlouhy) - Finals vs. Bhupathi/Knowles

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



World TeamTennis Stories from September 11, 2009


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