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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 NEW YORK: Juan Martin del Potro dethroned five-time defending champion Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 to capture the US Open on Monday, ending an era to win in his first Grand Slam final.Firing consistent winners, the 1.98m Argentine giant kept the pressure upon the player many hail as the greatest in tennis history, one he had never beaten in six prior attempts, and won a shocker after four hours and six minutes. "It's the best sensation in my life," Del Potro said. The stunner made Del Potro only the second South American to win the US Open men's crown, after countryman Guillermo Vilas in 1977, and denied Swiss world number one Federer a 16th career Slam crown and sixth US Open title in a row. "Life goes on. No problem," Federer said. "It has been an amazing run for me. Six would have been a dream too, but you can't have them all." Del Potro led Federer by two sets in the French Open semi-finals ...

NEW YORK: Kim Clijsters of Belgium won the US Open on Sunday by defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 7-5, 6-3 in the final.She is the first mother to win a Grand Slam title since Evonne Goolagong in 1980, the victory coming just five weeks after she returned to the sport following a 27-month retirement. She was the first wildcard, man or woman, to win a US Open title in the history of the tournament.

Rain gave way to bedlam tonight at the U.S. Open. Defending champion Serena Williams was charged with a point penalty on match point after yelling at a line judge for a calling a foot fault on her previous serve. The ruling gave Kim Clijsters a 6-4, 7-5 victory in their semifinal match, which had been delayed 32 hours because of rain. After the line judge called the foot fault with Serena serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, the youngest Williams sister intimidatingly stared her down before screaming at the official with a jabbed finger. After a few seconds, Serena turned back around to serve, thought better of it and resumed the badgering. The chair umpire then called over the line judge to ask what Serena had said, rules officials were summoned, a brief summit occurred at the net and it was determined that Serena would be assessed a point penalty for a conduct violation. The point gave Clijsters the match. The initial foot fault that began the fireworks was a terrible call. It wa...

Thursday, September 10, 2009 NEW YORK: Roger Federer will play Novak Djokovic in the US Open semi-finals on Saturday, their third consecutive clash at Flushing Meadows after the final of 2007 and the semi-finals of last year. Top seed and defending champion Federer reached the last four for a record 22nd time in a Grand Slam tournament despite a stirring late show from Robin Soderling, winning 6-0, 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (8/6). Fourth-seeded Djokovic won a dour, stamina-sapping encounter with Spain's Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (7/2), 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals for the third consecutive year. Teen upstarts Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium fought through the tension to reach their first Grand Slam semi-finals with nerve-testing US Open triumphs. Ninth seed Wozniacki, until now the top-ranked woman never in a Slam final eight, ousted 70th-ranked US teen Melanie Oudin 6-2, 6-2 while Wickmayer, never before past a Slam second round, beat Ukraine's Ka...

Tuesday, September 08, 2009 NEW YORK: It was a bleak day for US tennis on Monday as for the first time in the 41-year Open era no American made it into the quarterfinals of the men's singles. The last to fall was giant John Isner, who was toppled by Spain's Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Top seed and defending champion Roger Federer, meanwhile, moved a step closer to a record-equaling sixth straight title with a routine 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 win over outclassed Tommy Robredo of Spain.In the last eight, he will play the man be beat in Paris to end his French Open jinx, Robin Soderling, who moved on when Nikolay Davydenko abandoned with a thigh strain when trailing 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. Verdasco will go up against fourth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia who eased past Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in a disappointing night-time session match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Five points from a straight-set loss, Oudin kept plugging away with her perpetual-motion defense ...

Sunday, September 06, 2009 NEW YORK: World number one Dinara Safina and three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova crashed out of the US Open at the hands of teen titans on Saturday, aiding fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova's title bid.Petra Kvitova, a 19-year-old Czech who won her first WTA title in January at Hobart, and US giant-killer Melanie Oudin, two weeks shy of her 18th birthday, became the darlings of Flushing Meadows after their third-round shockers.Kvitova, ranked 72nd, saved three match points in the 12th game of the final set and eliminated Safina 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5).Safina will remain atop the rankings after the Open but is still searching for a first Grand Slam title and a way to play her best when it matters most.Oudin stunned former world number one Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 at Arthur Ashe Stadium by holding serve in the final game after six consecutive service breaks to book a quarter-final berth against Russian 13th seed Nadia Petrova.Reigning French Open cha...

Saturday, September 05, 2009 NEW YORK: Seeking her third grand slam victory of the year, Serena Williams withstood a strong test from Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the fourth round of the U.S.Open. No. 3 Venus Williams, the 2000-01 Open champion, avoided adding to the list of stunning results when she got past 46th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-2, 7-5. Next up for the elder Williams. Other winners included No. 7 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, No. 10Flavia Pennetta of Italy, No. 18 Li Na of China and No. 26 Francesca Schiavone of Italy.No. 1 Dinara Safina made it to Saturday's third round, but barely. She needed more than 4 hours to get through two three-set victories. The best men have faced no such problems: No. 3 Rafael Nadal's 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday night in the last match of Day 5means the men seeded 1-16 all reached the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in the 41-year Open era. Friday's other winne...

Friday, September 04, 2009 NEW YORK: US teen Melanie Oudin shrugged off a sore left leg to stun Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva on Thursday in the first major US Open shocker while top seed Dinara Safina struggled through again.Dementieva, a 2004 US Open runner-up still in search of her first Grand Slam title, had not made so early an exit at Flushing Meadows since 2002 but was sent off 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 by a 17-year-old American wearing pink and yellow shoes.World number one Safina, still searching for her first Slam crown, rallied to defeat Germany's 67th-ranked Kristina Barrois 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-3. The Russian made 38 unforced errors and double faulted 15 times.Oudin, ranked 70th but third among Americans, had her left thigh taped early in the third set but ignored the pain to finish off Dementieva with a service winner on her third match point after two hours and 45 minutes.Oudin said she felt a sharp pain in her leg when she hit the winning shot but was confident she will be ...

Wednesday, September 02, 2009 NEW YORK: Former world No.1 Maria Sharapova advanced to the second round of the US Open by defeating Bulgaria's 98th-ranked Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3 6-0 in 73 minutes.Sharapova, the 2006 US Open winner, is coming back after a right shoulder injury that kept her from playing in last year's US Open. The 29th-seeded Russian will next face US wild card Christina McHale, who ousted Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-3 6-1. Top-ranked Dinara Safina avoided becoming the first top-seeded woman ever to lose her opening match at the U.S. Open, rallying to defeat Olivia Rogowska of Australia in three sets.Safina committed 11 double faults and 48 unforced errors against the 18-year-old Rogowska, a wild-card entry who's ranked 167th in the world.A major upset looked to be in the offing as Rogowska took a 4-2 lead in the deciding set. But Safina reeled off four straight games to win 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 in just over two and a half hours and remain in the running for ...

Monday, August 31, 2009 NEW YORK: US Open, the last Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year, is beginning today here at Flushing Meadows.World's top seed Roger Federer has an opportunity to bag the sixth US Open grand slam title as he has been placed in easiest draw at US Open.Federer will kick start his US Open campaign against America's wildcard entry Devin Britain here at Arthur Ashe Stadium court.He will meet 4th seed Serbian Novak Djokovic in the semifinals if no major upset happens in the Flushing Meadows. The year 2009 was special for Federer as he topped the list of most Grand Slam title (15) after winning French Open and Wimbledon this year. He broke the Pete Samprass' record of most Grand Slam title.Apart from this, Federer becomes father of twins this year too. Now, the Swiss player is eying third Grand Slam title of the year at Flushing Meadows.A fit Spaniard Rafael Nadal is the biggest hurdle between Federer and US Open title.In women category, top seed Dinara...