US Open doubles champion: Laura Siegemund - "It's an incredible feeling"
By winning the double title at the US Open in New York, Laura Siegemund celebrated her greatest career success since her victory at the 2017 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
by PM
last edit: Sep 12, 2020, 03:00 pm
In the high-class final of the Grand Slam tournament on Friday, the Stuttgart woman and her Russian partner Vera Zvonareva prevailed 6: 4, 6: 4 against the Chinese-American pairing Yifan Xu and Nicole Melichar - and thus became the first German double winner in Flushing Meadows since Claudia Kohde-Kilsch 35 years ago. For Laura Siegemund it was already the second success in New York: in 2016 she won the mixed doubles alongside Croatian Mate Pavic.
"It is an incredible feeling to win a Grand Slam title," said the 32-year-old Porsche Team Germany player after Vera Zvonareva had turned the first match point after 1:19 hours. “The US Open with Vera was a great experience. We can be proud of our performance. "
Defending champions beaten
On the way to the final, they threw some of the title favorites out of the race. In the second round they prevailed against the Grand Slam winners Viktoria Azarenka and Sofia Kenin (Belarus / USA), and in the quarter-finals against the number 2 defending champions Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka (Belgium / Belarus). With a three-set win against the Russians Anna Blinkova and Veronika Kudermetova they finally made it to the final, where they could not be stopped by the number 3 seeded Yifan Xu and Nicole Melichar. Especially Laura Siegemund made sure of that. With a strong serve, a good overview and great reactions on the net, she was the dominant player in this final, which Vera Zvonareva also emphasized at the award ceremony: "Laura made me a better player on the pitch."
For the Russian, who celebrated her 36th birthday on September 7th, it was her fifth Grand Slam title: In 2006 she won the US Open and 2012 the Australian Open in doubles. In mixed she was successful in 2004 in New York and in 2006 in Wimbledon. Vera Zvonareva, who gave birth to a daughter in 2016 and then returned to the professional tour, competed several times at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. In 2008 and 2011 she reached the quarter-finals. She last served in the Porsche Arena in 2019.