| | NEW YORK -- Ai Sugiyama of Japan and Mahesh Bhupathi of
India teamed Thursday to win the mixed doubles title at the U.S.
Open, defeating Americans Kimberly Po and Donald Johnson 6-4, 6-4.
It was the first Grand Slam tournament title for Sugiyama and
the second major mixed doubles championship for Bhupathi, who
teamed with Rika Hiraki to capture the French Open in 1997.
Bhupathi also has won two Grand Slam tournament men's doubles
titles this year with Leander Paes: the French Open and Wimbledon.
Top seed gone
Virginia Razzano of France, the No. 1 seeded
player in the U.S. Open junior girls singles, was defeated Thursday
by Laura Granville of Chicago 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.
The victory moved Granville, seeded 11th in the 64-player draw,
into the quarterfinals.
Oh, say can you hear?
The planes screaming over Louis
Armstrong Stadium were enough to keep Yevgeny Kafelnikov muttering
throughout his quarterfinal match with Richard Krajicek, but the
Russian put his foot down when the national anthem wafted in.
Someone was practicing her rendition of "The Star-Spangled
Banner" on the adjacent Grandstand court, and in mid-song
Kafelnikov took off his white cap and placed it over his heart
while rolling his eyes. When the crowd stopped laughing and
Krajicek tried to serve at deuce, Kafelnikov waved him off as the
singing continued.
When the anthem was done, the crowd applauded and a fan cried
out, "Play ball!," and the match resumed. Krajicek won the next
two points to hold serve.
New tour stops
Women's tennis will be played in 28 different
countries on six continents next year, including the Olympics, Fed
Cup competition and the season-ending Chase Championships of the
WTA Tour.
The 2000 WTA Tour calendar released Thursday shows tournaments
have been added in Scottsdale, Ariz.; St. Louis; Prague, Czech
Republic; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Shanghai, China.
The year's first tournaments begin Jan . 3 in Australia and New
Zealand.
Changing serves
Richard Krajicek had an ace returned to his
record-breaking total on Thursday.
In his 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5) loss to Yevgeny
Kafelnikov on Wednesday night, Krajicek was credited with 48 aces,
based on the umpire's score card.
On Thursday, Krajicek was credited with 49 aces.
On the first point of the 12th game in the fifth set, Krajicek
served an ace. The serve was called out by the line judge, but
overruled by the chair umpire. The score was noted as 15-0, but the
ace was not recorded onto the electronic score card.
A videotape of the match was reviewed and all the aces counted. | |
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