Buzarnescu and Olaru Deny Pavlyuchenkova Doubles Slam

©Colette Lewis 2006
Flushing Meadows

There wasn't any Romanian press at the Media Center today, so the girls doubles championship won by Mihaela Buzarnescu and Raluca Olaru didn't even warrant a press conference.

If Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and partner Sharon Fichman of Canada, the no. 1 seeds, had won, the novelty of having a junior win all four of the doubles titles in the 2006 grand slams may have produced some interest, but when the second seeded Romanians prevailed 7-5, 6-2, during the men's final, nobody noticed.

But there were Romanian fans there, and not just for the championship match.

"They love tennis very much. They come here--they live here--and they support us very much," said Olaru. "They want to help us and to be here, in the singles too."

Asked if they had any special motivation to deny Pavlychenkova her fourth doubles title at a Grand Slam (she won Wimbledon with Alisa Kleybanova), Olaru admitted it did occur to them.

"At first, no. But we got up 4-0, 40-0 and started to think 'Oh my God, it's a Grand Slam final, we're leading 4-0, 40-0' and that's where we started to make mistakes. After that we just concentrated on the games. Forget the final, the court, it doesn't matter, just play."

Pavlychenkova expressed some disappointment, but after her lengthy singles match, in a week that saw her go to three sets on three occasions, her fatigue was understandable.

"I couldn't concentrate for my doubles, because I was excited that I won the Grand Slam," she said after being awarded the trophy on Arthur Ashe Stadium between the women's doubles and the men's final. "It's really difficult to focus and concentrate on the doubles."

For Olaru and Buzarnescu, their last junior tournament "ended good." And their Romanian supporters have arranged a celebration for their first Grand Slam title, taking them to a Romanian restaurant in Manhattan.

"They said they've already made a lot of Romanian food, just like home."