|
Post by Admin on Sept 6, 2014 0:10:22 GMT
For Caroline Wozniacki, watching her opponent carried from the court in a wheelchair was not how she wanted to celebrate reaching the United States Open final. Instead of reveling in her accomplishment, Wozniacki was busy worrying about Peng Shuai, who succumbed to heat illness during their semifinal match Friday. At one point, Wozniacki had rushed around the net to comfort Peng before she decided to retire from the match. It was painful and heartbreaking, Wozniacki’s triumph wrapped in concern for a fellow player. The victory, officially scored 7-6 (1), 4-3 retired, sent her into Sunday’s final against No. 1 Serena Williams, who advanced easily in the second semifinal, 6-1, 6-3, over No. 17 Ekaterina Makarova. That match took exactly an hour and featured none of the long rallies that turned Wozniacki’s match with Peng into a test of endurance. It was a test that did not end well for Peng, who received medical treatment on and off the court during the eighth game of the second set. She returned to play a few more points before collapsing on the court and deciding to retire. “It was really hard to watch for me whenever I saw her collapse on the court,” Wozniacki said. “You know, tennis is great, but the health is more important. You know, to see her struggling out there, I just wanted to make sure she was O.K.” The air temperature was recorded at 86 degrees, but clearly it felt far hotter on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court. The match was being played under the WTA Tour’s extreme heat rules, and both players wore ice-filled towels during changeovers. Peng, 28, had also struggled with the heat at the Australian Open this year, vomiting and suffering muscle cramps in a loss to Kurumi Nara of Japan in the first round. In Melbourne, however, the heat soared to 108 degrees, causing plastic water bottles to melt on the court and players to call the conditions “inhumane.”
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 7, 2014 23:13:55 GMT
Some had their doubts, and some had been writing her off. But Serena Williams showed she's still the best in the business, defeating Caroline Wozniacki for her 18th Grand Slam title and tying Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for second-most in the Open Era. It was a bit of a scratchy beginning for both players - after Williams fought off break point to hold in the first game, five straight breaks of serve followed. But that early hold turned out to be a big one as Williams came out of that stretch with a 4-2 lead, eventually closing the 40-minute set out, 6-3. The second set was exactly the same yet completely the opposite - after Williams broke Wozniacki in the opening game, neither player budged on their serve for seven straight games, with Williams emerging from that streak of games up 5-3, and Wozniacki about to serve to stay in the match. The No.1-seeded Williams didn't wait - she broke the No.10-seeded Wozniacki to win it, 6-3, 6-3. The match numbers painted a picture of how aggressive Williams was during the match: 29 winners to 23 unforced errors. Meanwhile, Wozniacki finished with fewer errors, 15, but just four winners. Wozniacki, who gave Williams a big congratulatory hug, was extremely gracious in defeat. "First of all, congratulations to Serena, you really deserved it today," Wozniacki said in the trophy ceremony. "You're an unbelievable champion and an inspiration to me on and off the court. "I would also like to thank the crowd for being so amazing these two weeks. You guys have been supporting me through everything, and it wouldn't be the same without you. Thanks to all of you." Williams echoed the sentiment to her good friend. "I'd like to say congratulations to Caroline. She knows the struggles I've been through - we text almost every day. Caroline I know you're going to win one very soon, maybe even in Australia, so I've got to go home and get ready for you there!" The World No.1 then fought back tears as everything really started to hit her. "It's a pleasure for me to win No.18 here," she said. "I couldn't ask to do it at a better place." As mentioned above, Williams has now tied her fellow WTA legends Evert and Navratilova for second-most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era. Steffi Graf leads that list with 22 Grand Slam titles. There's even more history to this victory: Williams has now tied Evert for most US Open titles in the Open Era with six; she's just the second woman in the Open Era to three-peat here, also after Evert, who actually won four in a row from 1975 to 1978; and, at 32, she's also the second-oldest player to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era after a 33-year-old Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1990.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 9, 2014 5:26:38 GMT
Marin Cilic was barred from last year's U.S. Open during a doping suspension he still says was unjust. Unable to compete, he watched the tournament on TV from his home in Croatia, while using the forced time away from the tour to improve under the tutelage of new coach Goran Ivanisevic. Now, 12 months later, look at Cilic. "Seems completely unreal," he said, "to be called 'Grand Slam champion.'" The 14th-seeded Cilic won his first major final Monday, beating 10th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 at the U.S. Open by using 17 aces and the rebuilt game and confidence instilled by Ivanisevic. "This is a second chance he got," Ivanisevic said, referring to Cilic's four-month ban in 2013, "and now he can just go forward and forward." Cilic earned a $3 million winner's check and will rise to No. 9 from his pre-U.S. Open ranking of No. 16, which made him the first man from outside the top 10 to win a Grand Slam title in a decade. "This," Cilic said, "is (from) all the hard work in these last several years — and especially this last year." He prevented Nishikori from becoming the first man from Asia to win a major singles championship. "Tennis has not been our biggest sport in Japan," Nishikori said. "Hopefully I can win next time." Cilic won the last 10 sets he played in the tournament, including three against 17-time major champion Roger Federer in the semifinals, and three against 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals. Cilic tested positive for a stimulant at a tournament in Germany in May 2013. The International Tennis Federation initially sought a two-year punishment; Cilic wound up with a much shorter suspension on appeal. He said he ingested the substance unintentionally via a glucose tablet bought at a pharmacy and says the process that led to his penalty "wouldn't be fair to any tennis player."
|
|