9/08/2008

Week #35-36: Serena Williams wins US Open and becomes WTA #1

American Serena Williams got her 9th singles Grand Slam title and 3rd in the US Open, a victory that will take her to the leading place in the WTA rankings. The tournament was promising as 6 of the top 7 players were fighting not only for the title, but also for World's #1. Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova suffered early defeats, but the other four contenders (Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic) reached the semifinals, where every combination was possible. Williams and Jankovic reached the final, where Williams imposed her greater experience, as this was the first Grand Slam final for Jankovic. Serena didn't drop a set in the whole tournament although she suffered to defeat her sister Venus in the quarter-finals.
Some other remarkable performances where done by Julie Coin (WTA 188), who went through the qualy to reach the third round defeating WTA #1 Ana Ivanovic in the 2nd round, and by Anna Lena Groenefeld (WTA 141), who seems to be getting her best tennis back after two bad seasons as she reached the 4th round as a qualifier.
Doubles title was for the best pair this season and 1st seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber, who defeated Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the final. Black also took the mixed doubles title with Leander Paes.

US Open (USA), Grand Slam, $7,050,000

Final: Serena Williams (USA) def Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 6/4 7/5
Doubles: C.Black/L.Huber def L.Raymond/S.Stosur 6/3 7/6
Mixed doubles: C.Black/L.Paes def L.Huber/J.Murray 7/6 6/4

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