Serena Williams has proved her good form and
beside new Grand Slam title, she reached WTA No.1 place again. In men's final,
Roger Federer has offered no chance to his opponent and reminded of his best plays
ever with maximum 3-0 win in less than two hours. This is his fascinating fifth
US Open title in a row
By MARKO ANDREJIĆ from Belgrade,
SERBIA
The
last Grand Slam tournament this year in New York was marked by the winners - Serena
Williams who won the third title on her "home court" and Roger Federer,
who seems to be too early underestimated, after one bad period and falling down
from the ATP No.1 place. British player Andy Murray is one of the most pleasant
surprises, if he can be named like that after all, because he reached his first
Grand-Slam final. However, this was just a finish of his great play during whole
US Tour, just before Flashing Meadows. Jelena Janković has also reached her first
Grand-Slam final, but in spite of her excellent games in New York, she had to
congratulate to younger sister Williams and take the second place award.
Among
big disappointments, first place is reserved for Ana Ivanović, who arrived to
US Open as the best player in the world (first in WTA list), but she won only
one match. It comes out that her injury was more complicated than it seemed before,
and recovery needs more time. However, army of Ana's fans can not be satisfied.
Rafael Nadal, the new No. 1 in men's competition, has played a good tournament,
but in semifinal Murray was more concentrated and Rafa expressed some not so usual
weaknesses. But it seems he has no reason to be sad.
New
stars that shined bright on the scene of Flashing Meadows, with their great and
not so expected results, are German girl Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who reached 4th
round after beating Daniela Hantuchova and Alize Cornet, but Dinara Safina was
too big challenge. Among men, it was noticed the play of Japanese Kei Nishikori
who was also stopped in 1/8 finals, but before that he made wins over Argentinian
Juan Monaco and one of the favorites, Spaniard David Ferrer. Too high step on
his way was excellent Juan Martin del Potro, who had a great US tour, just like
Andy Murray, and he made more than 20 wins in a row before quarter final in New
York and match exactly against British.
Certainly unexpected was an excellent
play of Gilles Muller from Luxembourg, with his wins over Tommy Haas, Nicolas
Almagro and Nikolay Davydenko, till quarter finals. And good form and great matches
were seen by veteran Tommy Robredo, beaten by Novak Đoković and Russian player
Igor Andreev who needed some extra luck in fifth set against later champion Roger
Federer. Novak Đoković played on expected high level, but Swiss champion stopped
him once more on the way to title. It seems that Serbian best player needs a rest
and recovery before the final tournaments in the season and Masters in Shanghai.
James Blake was one of the home-crowd's favorite but didn't fullfill their expectations.
Talking
about ladies, the most worries to sports betting with their early kicking out,
have brought Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchova and Vera Zvonareva, as well
as already mentioned, first favorite Ana Ivanović. Russian girl Svetlana Kuznetsova,
one of the candidates for No.1 in WTA ranking, was eliminated also in an early
phase of competition, by Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik, who played one of her better
tournaments recently. Anyway, Patty Schnyder knew how to use her experience and
stop Srebotnik - later she reached quarter-finals and lost against Olympics champion
Elena Dementieva. Austrian girl Sybill Bammer and Italian Flavia Pennetta were
in a good shape and deserved places in final eight, but there were also girls
who played well but not passed too far, like Danish Caroline Wozniacki and always
good Polish Agnieszka Radwanska, as well as French girls Amelie Maureso and Marion
Bartoli. Draw made sister Williams to face themselves in quarter final, and this
time, opposite from Wimbledon, younger sister was the winner - Serena. Olympic
champion Dementieva reached semifinal with strong and convincing play, as well
as Dinara Safina whose good form is still obvious. Semifinals were their final
results.
The
only one inconvenience in these two weeks arrived with bad weather in final days.
That's why semifinal between Nadal and Murray had to be played in two parts, on
Saturday and Sunday, and final matches have been re-scheduled for one day later
- Jelena Janković and Serena Williams have played on Sunday, and Roger Federer
and Andy Murray on Monday. Serena has proved her good shape and beside new Grand-Slam
title (9th) she reached WTA No.1 place again. Jelena had a good fight but she
helped her opponent with some unforced errors. Final result 7-5, 6-4 and 124 minutes
of play may show that it was not an easy job. In men's final, Roger Federer has
offered no chance to his opponent and reminded of his best plays ever with maximum
3-0 win in less than two hours. This is his fascinating fifth US Open title in
a row.
The last Grand-Slam tournament this year is a good introduction
for the finish of the season, where the best world players will have to fight
for the last remained places in Masters Tournaments in Doha (women) and Shanghai
(men).
The
last Grand Slam tournament this year in New York was marked by the winners - Serena
Williams who won the third title on her "home court" and Roger Federer,
who seems to be too early underestimated, after one bad period and falling down
from the ATP No.1 place. British player Andy Murray is one of the most pleasant
surprises, if he can be named like that after all, because he reached his first
Grand-Slam final. However, this was just a finish of his great play during whole
US Tour, just before Flashing Meadows. Jelena Janković has also reached her first
Grand-Slam final, but in spite of her excellent games in New York, she had to
congratulate to younger sister Williams and take the second place award.
New
stars that shined bright on the scene of Flashing Meadows, with their great and
not so expected results, are German girl Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who reached 4th
round after beating Daniela Hantuchova and Alize Cornet, but Dinara Safina was
too big challenge. Among men, it was noticed the play of Japanese Kei Nishikori
who was also stopped in 1/8 finals, but before that he made wins over Argentinian
Juan Monaco and one of the favorites, Spaniard David Ferrer. Too high step on
his way was excellent Juan Martin del Potro, who had a great US tour, just like
Andy Murray, and he made more than 20 wins in a row before quarter final in New
York and match exactly against British.
Talking
about ladies, the most worries to sports betting with their early kicking out,
have brought Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchova and Vera Zvonareva, as well
as already mentioned, first favorite Ana Ivanović. Russian girl Svetlana Kuznetsova,
one of the candidates for No.1 in WTA ranking, was eliminated also in an early
phase of competition, by Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik, who played one of her better
tournaments recently. Anyway, Patty Schnyder knew how to use her experience and
stop Srebotnik - later she reached quarter-finals and lost against Olympics champion
Elena Dementieva. Austrian girl Sybill Bammer and Italian Flavia Pennetta were
in a good shape and deserved places in final eight, but there were also girls
who played well but not passed too far, like Danish Caroline Wozniacki and always
good Polish Agnieszka Radwanska, as well as French girls Amelie Maureso and Marion
Bartoli. Draw made sister Williams to face themselves in quarter final, and this
time, opposite from Wimbledon, younger sister was the winner - Serena. Olympic
champion Dementieva reached semifinal with strong and convincing play, as well
as Dinara Safina whose good form is still obvious. Semifinals were their final
results.
The
only one inconvenience in these two weeks arrived with bad weather in final days.
That's why semifinal between Nadal and Murray had to be played in two parts, on
Saturday and Sunday, and final matches have been re-scheduled for one day later
- Jelena Janković and Serena Williams have played on Sunday, and Roger Federer
and Andy Murray on Monday. Serena has proved her good shape and beside new Grand-Slam
title (9th) she reached WTA No.1 place again. Jelena had a good fight but she
helped her opponent with some unforced errors. Final result 7-5, 6-4 and 124 minutes
of play may show that it was not an easy job. In men's final, Roger Federer has
offered no chance to his opponent and reminded of his best plays ever with maximum
3-0 win in less than two hours. This is his fascinating fifth US Open title in
a row.