Thiem Comes Back From Two Sets Down to Claim US Open Championship; Guarachi, Krawczyk and Krajicek Earn Pro Tour Doubles Titles

Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev played more than four hours in the men's US Open singles final today, a match that was full of twists and turns, good tennis and bad, drama and futility. It was fitting that it ended, after each player had served for the match in the fifth set, with a tiebreaker, the first in history to decide a men's singles final, with Thiem claiming the 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6) victory.

Thiem was the heavy favorite going into the match. The 27-year-old Austrian had reached three previous grand slam finals, the most recent in Australia this year, had been more impressive throughout the two weeks in New York and was 7-2 against Zverev. But Zverev, at 23 the youngest men's slam finalist in the last decade, came out playing loose and aggressive, using is serve well and coming forward to finish points. 

Thiem was looking off, spraying balls and unimpressive on serve, but he dug in late in the second set, saving four set points while winning three straight games from 5-1 down and forcing Zverev to work for the hold at 5-4.

Zverev did go up a break early in the third set, but immediately gave the break back, and his court positioning, as well as his double faults, began to give Thiem opportunities. Although Thiem was standing extremely deep to return serve, once the rally started he headed for the baseline, while Zverev kept drifting farther and farther back. Thiem broke on his first set point, with Zverev serving at 4-5 to get to a fourth set, and he earned the only break of the fourth set with Zverev serving at 3-4 and held at love to even the match.

The fifth set started with an exchange of breaks, but five straight holds saw the tension continue to build. Serving at 3-4, Thiem was broken, but Zverev never got to match point when trying to serve it out. Thiem held, then broke Zverev again, but he could not get to match point either, serving at 6-5. 

The US Open men's singles title had never been decided by a fifth set tiebreaker in the 50 years that it has been used, so the circumstances were unique even before considering the eerie atmosphere created by the pandemic bubble. A packed Ashe Stadium with all the tension of the final handful of games would have been full of raucous cheers and support, but without that, the players and the dozens of spectators among their teams and the US Open staff were left to serve as witnesses to that historic tiebreaker.

Zverev looked the more nervous of the two, but it was Thiem, known for his fitness, who began struggling physically, with cramping appearing to the issue. Zverev chipped in with a couple of double faults, which took some of the pressure off Thiem, and when Thiem smoked a forehand pass by Zverev, he led 6-4. But he netted a forehand on the first one and sent a forehand wide on the second to give Zverev hope. But it was short-lived, as Thiem again sent a forehand pass by him after he couldn't put away several volleys, giving Thiem a third chance. This time, Thiem didn't need a winner, as Zverev hit a routine backhand wide, and Thiem had managed to capture his first slam title.

"I achieved a life goal," Thiem said in his press conference. "A dream of myself, which I had for many, many years. Of course, as a kid as well, when I started to play tennis, but back then, it's so far away. Then I got closer and closer to the top and I started to realize that, wow, maybe one day I can really win one of the four biggest titles in tennis. I put a lot of work in, basically dedicated my whole life to this point to win one of the four majors. And now I did it; that's also for myself a great accomplishment, it's not only myself, but also from my team, all my family and I guess it's also that today is the day that I gave back a huge amount of what they did for me."

Thiem, the first man born in the 1990s to win a slam title, is also the first in the Open era to win a US Open title coming from two sets down in the final. Only four other men have won a slam final from two sets down, all of those at the French Open.

Çiftler şampiyonları Alexa Guarachi ve Desirae Krawczyk 👑#tennischampistanbul

📸@gokhantnr pic.twitter.com/JWvC8hYONx

— Tennis Championship Istanbul (@TennisChampIst) September 13, 2020

As I noted yesterday, the clay season has been underway in Europe for some time, with the Italian Open main draw beginning tomorrow and two events crowning champions today. 

At the WTA International in Istanbul, unseeded Patricia Tig of Romania defeated qualifier Eugenie Bouchard of Canada 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) for the singles title.  Former collegians Alexa Guarachi(Alabama) of Chile and Desirae Krawczyk(Arizona State), the top seeds, won the women's doubles title, their second WTA title as a team, defeating No. 2 seeds Ellen Perez(Georgia) and Storm Sanders of Australia 6-1, 6-3 in the final. 

At the ATP 250 in Austria, Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) won the the men's doubles title, with partner Franko Skugor of Croatia, their first title as a team. Krajicek and Skugor, the No. 4 seeds, defeated top seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-6(5), 7-5 in the final. It's the fourth ATP title for Krajicek and the sixth for Skugor. For more on today's final, see this article from the ATP website.

2016 ITF World Junior Champion Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia claimed his first ATP title in Kitzbuhel Austria, defeating former USC All-American Yannick Hanfmann of Germany 6-4, 6-4 in the final. For more on Kecmanovic's title, see this article from the ATP website.

Osaka's Comeback Earns Her a Second US Open Title; Nine Americans Begin Delayed Clay Season at Italian Open; Hanfmann Advances to ATP Final

©Colette Lewis 2020--

Down 1-6, 0-2 in Saturday's US Open final, Naomi Osaka was on the verge of being blown out by a resurgent Victoria Azarenka. But the 22-year-old was able to dig deep, elevate her game and hold on to that new standard to claim her second US Open title with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 decision. 

Osaka had played poorly in the opening set, with 13 unforced errors and just five winners, while Azarenka was serving remarkably well, missing just one of 16 first serves in the set for a first serve percentage of 94.

Azarenka held and broke to start the second set, but she could not consolidate that break, and Osaka began to rebalance the errors-winners ledger, with 16 winners and just five unforced errors as she closed out the second set with a third break of Azarenka after a five-deuce game.

Osaka was asked what she was thinking after she went down a break in the second set.

"I think in the first set I was so nervous, I wasn't moving my feet," said the No. 4 seed.  "I felt like I was not playing -- not that I expect myself to play 100%, but it would be nice if I could even play, like, 70%. But, yeah, I just felt like I was too much in my own head. Then in the second set, of course I was down early, which really didn't help me out. I just thought to myself to be positive, don't lose 6-1, 6-0, hopefully give her a slight run for her money."

Azarenka said she felt several changes in the momentum during the match, beginning with that third game of the second set. 

"I think the break, maybe in the beginning of the second set, she started to play better, caught a few lines, had some really good shots," said Azarenka, who, like Osaka, was competing for her third slam singles title.  "She was being really aggressive. I don't think there was only one. I think in the third set also I started to come back and stuff. It was a lot of tight moments where, you know, didn't work out for me today."

Osaka took a 4-1 lead in the third set, and had four opportunities to go up 5-1, only to have Azarenka save that game, then break Osaka in the next game to get back on serve. But serving at 3-4, Azarenka was broken again, giving Osaka a chance to serve for the match. Although she got only one first serve in, Osaka's second serve was solid enough, keeping Azarenka from attacking from the first ball. Osaka took a 40-15 lead, failed to convert the first match point, but survived a long, tense and well-played rally to earn the title.

Osaka celebrated by lying on the court and looking up at the sky. She was asked what her thoughts were in that moment:

"Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about all the times I've watched the great players sort of collapse onto the ground and look up into the sky. I've always wanted to see what they saw. For me, it was really an incredible moment. I'm really glad I did it."

Osaka is the first woman to win a US Open title from a set down since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1994 and the first woman to win a third slam title before the age of 23 since Maria Sharapova. She was non-committal about whether she would be playing the French Open, which begins in two weeks. 

With the clay season already underway in Europe, Americans have been heading there to prepare for the French Open, and next week's Italian Open. 

Seven American women have received entry into the main draw in Rome: Sofia Kenin[3], Alison Riske[13], Amanda Anisimova, Venus Williams[WC], Sloane Stephens, Coco Gauff and Bernarda Pera.

Two US men are in the main draw of the Italian Open: Taylor Fritz and Sam Querrey. Tennys Sandgren is the top seed in qualifying and had a bye today; Bradley Klahn won his first round qualifying match and will need two more victories to reach the main draw.

Former University of Southern California All-American Yannick Hanfmann has advanced to the second ATP final of his career at the Generali Open  in Austria, with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) win over Laslo Djere of Serbia. The 28-year-old from Germany, a qualifier this week, will face unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in Sunday's final. Hanfmann previously reached an ATP final in Gstaad in 2017. For more on Hanfmann's win over Djere today, see this article from the ATP website.

Zverev and Thiem Advance to US Open Men's Final; Zvonareva and Siegemund Win Women's Doubles Championship; 13-Year-Old Fruhvirtova Claims First ITF Junior Titles

©Colette Lewis 2020--

Twenty-three-year-old Alexander Zverev of Germany has long been considered the most promising of the NextGen players, but his results in the slams have not approached those in ATP events. After reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open this year, his first slam semifinal, and being a prime beneficiary of the Novak Djokovic default this week at the US Open, he looked poised for his first slam final...until his match with Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain started.

Although Carreno Busta played well, the fifth-seeded Zverev looked passive and content to trade groundstrokes, and before long the Spaniard had a 6-3, 6-2 lead. Zverev took note of his situation and decided that something had to change.

"I looked at the scoreboard after two sets," said Zverev, who went on to win the next three sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, for his first comeback from two sets down. "I thought to myself, Look, I'm playing a Grand Slam semifinal, I'm down 6-3, 6-2 in a match where on paper I'm supposed to be the favorite. I needed to play better, start something new. I thought, Okay, I'm going to go set by set, we'll see how far I can get. It turned out well in the end."

Carreno Busta, who was in the US Open semifinals in 2017, saw Zverev raise his level, yet expressed disappointment in his own response.

"Well, is true that he plays better in the third set," said the 29-year-old, seeded No. 20. "He start to serve better, to don't make the mistakes. In this moment with two sets up is when you need to win the match, when you need to go for it, to try to do it, to continue playing aggressive. Maybe I didn't do it. Was the problem for me."

No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria will face Zverev in Sunday's final, in a rematch of the Australian Open semifinal this year, which Thiem won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(4). The 27-year-old Thiem, who will be playing in his fourth slam final, defeated No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-2, 7-6(7), 7-6(5). Medvedev served for both the second and third sets, but Thiem broke back both times and came up with key winners in the tiebreakers, while Medvedev wasn't quite as consistent as usual. 

Thiem has a 7-2 advantage head-to-head with Zverev.

The women's final between Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka is set for 4 p.m. EDT on Saturday, with the men's final scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT Sunday. 

The women's doubles champions were crowned Friday afternoon, with unseeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia and Laura Siegemund of Germany defeating No. 3 seeds Nicole Melichar and China's Yifan Xu 6-4, 6-4. Zvonareva and Siegemund, who were playing together for the first time, got early breaks in both sets and were able to keep Melichar and Xu at bay. It's the second women's US Open doubles title for Zvonareva, who won her first way back in 2006, with Nathalie Dechy of France. She also won the Australian women's doubles title with Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in 2012 and has two slam mixed doubles titles. It's the first women's doubles title at a slam for Siegemund, but she did win the US Open mixed title in 2016, with Mate Pavic, who won the men's doubles title yesterday.

For a detailed account of today's final, see this article from the WTA website.

At one of the ITF Junior Circuit Grade 2s that concluded today, 13-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic won her first titles, taking both the singles and doubles championships in Cairo Egypt. Fruhvirtova became eligible to compete on the ITF Junior Circuit back in April, when she turned 13, but with the pandemic, she wasn't able to actually play in one until now. Given a wild card (oddly she was not given one to the Grade 2 this week in her home country), Fruhvirtova sailed into the final, dropping only seven games in her first four wins. She had a tougher time in the championship match, but defeated No. 3 seed Hania Abouelsaad of Egypt 6-0, 4-6, 6-2. In the doubles final, Fruhvirtova and Kira Pavlova of Russia defeated top seeds Mariam Ibrahim and Jermine Sherif 7-6(5), 6-2.

Fruhvirtova, who won the Les Petits As title in February, has not lost a singles match in 2020, going 16-0 in this abbreviated tennis year, and she also has had some head-turning results in exhibition matches against WTA Top 100 players.

Minnesota to Cut Men's Tennis; Brady Falls Just Short in US Open Semifinals; Pavic and Soares Win Men's Doubles Title

©Colette Lewis 2020--

A second Big Ten school has announced the elimination of its men's tennis program, with Minnesota revealing today that it will discontinue men's indoor track and field, men's outdoor track and field, men's gymnastics and men's tennis after the 2020-21 academic year, leaving it with 21 varsity sports. As for why these sports were targeted for cutting, the release says: "In addition to the financial challenges and gender-equity commitments, we also considered community impact, local and national interest, competitiveness, and sport sponsorship at the Big Ten and NCAA Division I level when making this decision."  When Iowa cut its men's program last month, it may have served as permission for other Big Ten programs to consider that option. I do not expect this to be the last of the Power 5 conference schools to follow suit, although I hope I am wrong.

Jennifer Brady was the only US Open semifinalist who had not won a slam title, but there was no way to tell that from her performance tonight against 2018 champion Naomi Osaka. Although she lost 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3 to the No. 4 seed, the former UCLA star was in the match to the very end, trading blistering ground strokes and big serves in one of the best women's matches of the tournament. 

Breaks of serve were at a premium throughout the match, with Brady getting the only break point in the first set, but she couldn't get Osaka's second serve back in play at 3-all, and they went on to the tiebreaker. Brady made a few more errors, while Osaka continued to keep hers to a minimum in spite of the pace she was generating and absorbing. 

To Brady's credit, she did not get discouraged after that poor tiebreaker, and the match returned to its extremely high level in the second set. Brady continued to hold serve without much trouble, and leading 4-3, she got her first break opportunity at 30-40. One of the longest rallies of the match ended with Osaka sending a forehand long and Brady closed out the set with no difficulty to send the match to a third set.

Osaka got the lone break of the third set with Brady serving a 1-2, with Brady failing to challenge on a call that ESPN's replay of Hawkeye showed as good but was called out and not overruled by the chair umpire. With breaks so rare, that one was obviously deflating for Brady, but the former UCLA Bruin recovered from 15-40 in her next service game to stay close, and held once more at 2-5 to force Osaka to serve it out. Osaka didn't get many first serves in and double faulted for 15-30, but she came through when she had to, taking the next three points to earn her place in the final. 

Despite her lack of experience in such a moment, Brady was pleased she was able to play high quality tennis.

"I think I handled the situation pretty well," said Brady, who was seeded at a slam for the first time, at No. 28.  "I mean, I was obviously pretty nervous, playing here on Arthur Ashe, night match, semifinals, a match to play for the finals of the US Open. I felt like I went out there and I believed that I could win the match. Obviously I didn't, but I'm pretty happy with myself, with my effort, and my mentality these past couple weeks."

Osaka was impressed by Brady's consistency throughout the match, saying it reminder her of the 2019 Australian Open final against Petra Kvitova.

"Unlike that match, I felt like Jenny was very solid throughout the entire thing," Osaka said. "I felt like I had no chances almost. Everyone on my team was happy, they said it was a really high quality match and they said they were proud of me for having a consistent attitude throughout."

As for her plans, Brady said she would "love to play tomorrow, but I think I'm going to take a little bit of time, practice and train on the clay before I start playing tournaments. I'll train a little bit. Looking to play French Open."

Brady, who is expected to move to a career-high 25 in the WTA rankings after this run, can draw confidence from her impressive showing as she goes into another slam in under three weeks.

"I think I'm just proud of my effort, that I treated each match as the same, came in with the same mentality," Brady said. "The only goal I had was just to compete on every single point. I felt like that's what I did. I'm leaving here pretty proud."

Osaka will face unseeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who overcame a slow start to defeat Serena Williams 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The men's doubles champions were crowned Thursday afternoon, with unseeded Bruno Soares of Brazil and Mate Pavic of Croatia defeating No. 8 seeds Nikola Mektic of Croatia and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-3. Soares and Pavic didn't face a break point in the match, capturing their first slam title as a team.  Both have previous men's slam doubles titles with different partners: Soares won the 2016 Australian Open and US Open titles with Jamie Murray of Great Britain, while Pavic won the 2018 Australian Open with Oliver Marach of Austria. 

The women's doubles final, Friday at noon, features No. 3 seeds Nicole Melichar and China's Yifan Xu against unseeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia and Laura Siegemund of Germany. 

Friday's schedule, including the two men's singles semifinals, is here.

French Open Junior Championship Acceptances Include Nine Americans; Williams Advances to US Open Semifinals; Melichar Earns Spot in Women's Doubles Final

photo by Sam Elias, via unsplash

The acceptances for the French Open Junior Championships were released today, with five US girls and four US boys receiving direct entry. There is no junior qualifying this year, so 56 players received entry, with eight wild cards to be named later. 

The American girls who have entered, with their current ITF Junior ranking in brackets, are Robin Montgomery[5], Alexandra Yepifanova[23], Elvina Kalieva[26], Madison Sieg[41] and Ellie Coleman[54].

The American boys entered are Dali Blanch[30], Bruno Kuzuhara[51], Alexander Bernard[57] and Maxwell McKennon[61].

Both Australian Open Junior champions have entered, with Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra and Harold Mayot of France looking to sweep the titles of the only two junior slams that will be contested this year. In all, seven of the Top 10 have entered in both the boys and girls fields.

The cutoff for the girls was 68, with Great Britain's Emma Raducanu receiving entry based on her WTA ranking of 338 and Daria Lopatetska of Ukraine receiving entry based on her WTA ranking of 381. The cutoff for the boys was 61, with Pablo Llamas Ruiz of Spain receiving entry due to his ATP ranking of 649. 

There will be up to eight alternates designated, but only three will be allowed access to the site. These are the testing protocols that have been announced for the junior event:

Upon arrival at the hotel, player and support team member will need to submit two nasopharyngeal swab PCR tests within the 72 hours preceeding the start of the event.

Once the player has received his/her first negative test result, he/she will be allowed to pick up his/her credential and may go on site.

From then on, players and support team member may do the second PCR test which can be the same day as the result of the 1st test.

5 days after the second PCR test, players and guests will be required to undergo a third PCR test, to confirm results of the second test.

The testing room will be operational from Thursday 1st October at the Ibis Hotel

Each player is responsible to ensure they arrive in Paris in a reasonable time to observe the protocol.

Planning for international travel is already complicated enough without last minute changes, but those hoping to get Grade 3 points at the ITF Grade 1 in Hungary next week, got a shock when they were informed that it had been downgraded to a Grade 5 just two weeks before the tournament was to begin. That means no hospitality as well as a huge reduction of points on offer, so unsurprisingly, withdrawals were legion.

Serena Williams has joined Jennifer Brady in the US Open women's semifinals, beating unseeded Tsevtana Pironkova of Bulgaria 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 this afternoon. The third-seeded Williams will face the winner of tonight's match between Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and No. 16 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium Thursday evening, after the match between Brady and Naomi Osaka of Japan, who beat Shelby Rogers 6-3, 6-4 last night. 

2019 finalist Daniil Medvedev, seeded 3,  is through to the semifinals, beating fellow Russian and No. 10 seed Andrey Rublev 7-6(6), 6-3, 7-6(5) this afternoon. He will play the winner of tonight's match between No. 21 seed Alex De Minaur of Australia and No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem of Austria in Friday's semifinals.

The women's doubles final is set, with Nicole Melichar and partner Yifan Xu of China advancing to the championship match against Vera Zvonereva of Russia and Laura Siegemund of Germany, who won their semifinal on Tuesday.

 

The No. 3 seeds saved a match point in the third set tiebreaker, beating unseeded Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7).  Muhammand and Townsend led 4-2 in the final set, only to go down 6-5, with Xu serving for the match, but they played a perfect game to break her at love and force a tiebreaker. Townsend saved a match point with a poach with Muhammad serving at 5-6, and then it was Xu's turn to save a match point, hitting a sharply angled forehand winner off a return at 6-7. A Melichar poach gave her team a second match point and Xu again came up big, directing her return right at Muhammad at the net, who couldn't handle it.

Melichar, who reached the 2018 Wimbledon women's doubles final with Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic, won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon that year, with Alexander Peya of Austria. Xu, playing with Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada, lost in the 2019 Wimbledon women's doubles final.  

The men's doubles final is Thursday at 3 p.m., and the wheelchair competition begins at noon, with the complete schedule here.

Brady Moves into US Open Semifinals to Face 2018 Champion Osaka; Men's Doubles Final Set

©Colette Lewis 2020--

Jennifer Brady continued her domination of opponents at this year's US Open, with the 25-year-old former UCLA Bruin defeating No. 23 seed Yulia Puntintseva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 this afternoon on Armstrong Stadium.

As she has done throughout the tournament, Brady started quickly, running out to a 4-0 lead, with Putintseva unable to put any pressure on the Brady serve. Putintseva did get a break with Brady serving at 4-0 in the first and quickly held for 4-2, but Brady got back on track, primarily with superior power, but also with some inspired defense.

A break in the first game of the second set didn't last, with Brady broken for the second time in the match serving at 2-1, but she got another break in the next game and took control from there, winning the last four games of the 69-minute contest.

The last time Brady had played in Ashe, in the 2017 fourth round against Karolina Pliskova, she had won only one game. In her post-match Zoom press conference, Brady was asked what was the difference in her game now.

"Three years," Brady said. "Three years can make a huge difference. I think I have matured. I definitely have gotten a lot fitter, I feel a lot stronger out on court, have a lot more confidence in myself and my game. I know what I'm doing out there. I believe in myself, my game, that I'm good enough to win matches and to be at this level and to be where I am today."

That being said, Brady admitted that playing in her first slam quarterfinal was nerve-racking.

"Honestly I was feeling like I was going to poop my pants, I was very nervous,: Brady said. "I just tried to really stay calm and, like, keep it cool as a cucumber out there."

Brady still had her left thigh wrapped, which she had needed attention for in her fourth round win over Angelique Kerber on Saturday. Rather than throwing her off her game, Brady said the discomfort helped her focus.

"I think in the fourth game I was serving, and I really started to feel my legs, so, you know, it kind of -- it kind of helped me a little bit," Brady said.

"I just started thinking about that, and I was, Oh, I'm not feeling great, whatever. It kind of took my mind off the match a little bit. And then I was able to recover and really focus in and think, okay, well, I'm up 4-2. How has the match been going? I have been winning points when I'm playing aggressive tennis but not overplaying. So, okay, if I just continue that and take it one point at a time, I can at least put myself in a position to serve for the set if I just continue to just play my game. And then I was able to do that. In the second set I felt like I was continuing off the same thing. Just playing aggressive tennis, looking for my forehand, serving well, trying to be aggressive off returns when I could." 

Brady is the first former college player to reach the US Open semifinals since Lori McNeil (Oklahoma State) in 1987. Of course Danielle Collins made the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2019, so former collegians having slam success is hardly unheard of, but Brady will move into rarified air if she reaches the final. Billie Jean King is the last former college player to make a US Open final, with the former Cal State-Los Angeles star's most recent appearance back in 1974.

Brady will face 2018 US Open champion Naomi Osaka in Thursday's semifinal, after Osaka, the No. 4 seed,  defeated unseeded Shelby Rogers 6-3, 6-4. It was Osaka's first win over Rogers in their fourth meeting, although they had not played since 2017.

Brady had this to say about playing the two-time grand slam champion.

"She's obviously a great player," Brady said of the 22-year-old from Japan. "Very powerful, big serve, big shots off the baseline, one-two punch. You know, she's a really good player."

Osaka didn't mention Brady's power when she spoke about her semifinal opponent in the on-court interview after her win over Rogers.

"I think she's a really amazing player," Osaka said. "She has the variety that I wish I had, so I'm a bit jealous. She's super nice and I think it's going to be a really tough match and we're both going to try our best."

The last American man in the tournament was eliminated today in the men's doubles semifinal, with Rajeev Ram and his partner Joe Salisbury of Great Britain falling to No. 8 seeds Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia 7-6(3), 6-4. The No. 3 seeds and Australian Open champions had four break points in the 3-4 game in the second set, and when they were unable to convert any of those, the match went the other way quickly. A quick break gave Koolhof and Mektic a 5-4 lead and they closed out the match with an easy hold. 

The last college player in doubles also exited Tuesday, with Jean-Julien Rojer(UCLA) of the Netherlands and his partner Horia Tecau of Romania losing to Mate Pavic of Croatia and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-4, 7-5. The men's doubles final is scheduled for Thursday.

One of the women's doubles finalists was decided today, with Vera Zvonereva of Russia and Laura Siegemund of Germany defeating Anna Blinkova and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 in over two-and-a-half hours. The unseeded veterans will play the winner of Wednesday's semifinal match between No. 3 seeds Nicole Melichar and China's Yifan Xu and unseeded Taylor Townsend and Asia Muhammad.

One of the men's semifinalists was decided today, with No. 5 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany defeating longtime rival Borna Coric of Croatia, the No. 27 seed, 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(1), 6-3. Zverev will play the winner of tonight's match between No. 30 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain and No. 12 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada.

Wednesday matches featuring US women:

Serena Williams[3] v Tsvetana Pironkova(BUL)

Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend v Nicole Melichar and Yifan Xu[3](CHN)