US.14- The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on Flushing Meadows

As it turned out, Rafa Nadal didn't pull off the Paris/London/New York trifecta today.

Actually, he and Novak Djokovic didn't play at all.

Instead, after a good start to Day 14's action, the looming rain clouds settling over the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center finally opened up and let loose their pent-up fury. I guess I wasn't the only one upset about that nasty Women's final.

Anyway, the offshoot is that the Men's final will now be contested on Monday, at 4pm New York time.

Yep... with two other slams with retractable roof stadiums, it's well past time for the "biggest" one to follow suit.



=DAY 14 NOTES=
...the junior singles finals WERE completed today, though.

Daria Gavrilova became the latest Hordette to win a Girls slam title, taking out fellow Russian Yulia Putintseva 6-2/6-2 in the final. In the Boys championship, Jack Sock knocked out Denis Kudla 3-6/6-2/6-2.

...Esther Vergeer, too, closed things out, winning yet another Women's Wheelchair title with a double-bagel final score, extending her personal -- and astounding -- winning streak to 396 matches.

...the Women's Doubles final was ALMOST completed, but ultimately wasn't. Liezel Huber & Nadia Petrova got to within less than one game of the title when the rains came, leading Vania King & Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2/4-6/5-4. They'll wrap up tomorrow, as well.

...Yanina Wickmayer is receiving an award for showing heart.

...in weekend ITF action, Czech Maiden Renata Voracova won the $100K challenger in Biella, Italy with a victory in the final over countrywoman Zuzana Ondraskova, 6-4/6-2.

Other noteworthy winners: veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn, a week after dropping a 1st Round match to another Thai player named Nungnadda Wannasuk in a challenger in Japan, won this past week's $25K event in Noto, Japan. Also, Poland's Magda Linette won her fourth ITF crown of the season in a $25K challenger in Katowice, Poland.



GUANGZHOU, CHINA (Int'l $220K/hard outdoor)
09 Final: Peer d. Brianti
10 Top Seeds: Groth/Chan
=============================
=SF=
#1 Groth d. Gallovits
Mirza d. #2 Chan
=FINAL=
#1 Groth d. Mirza

...she's due after a breakthrough year, and this small Chinese event would be a nice, out of the way, place to get a first tour title.


QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC CAN (Int'l $220K/hard indoor)
09 Final: Czink d. Safarova
10 Top Seeds: Bartoli/Rezai
=============================
=SF=
#3 Safarova d. #1 Bartoli
#2 Rezai d. Lisicki
=FINAL=
#2 Rezai d. #3 Safarova

...one potentially interesting match: Bartoli vs. Rebecca Marino in the 2nd Round, in front of a home nation Canadian crowd for the player who Venus said reminded her of herself. Hopefully, Rebecca didn't watch that Clijsters SF match.

...oh, and finally, today I saw the latest Citizen watch ad touting that Clijsters' was "fueled by passion." I'm not even going to get into it again.



*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#2 Kim Clijsters/BEL def. #7 Vera Zvonareva/RUS 6-2/6-1

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Rafael Nadal/ESP vs. #3 Novak Djokovic/SRB

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#6 King/Shvedova (USA/KAZ) vs. #2 Huber/Petrova (USA/RUS)

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) def. #16 Bopanna/Qureshi (IND/PAK) 7-6/7-6

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Huber/B.Bryan (USA/USA) def. Peschke/Qureshi (CZE/PAK) 6-4/6-4

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Daria Gavrilova/RUS def. Yulia Putintseva/RUS 6-2/6-2

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
(WC) Jack Sock/USA def. #10 Denis Kudla/USA 3-6/6-2/6-2

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
#3 Babos/Stephens (HUN/USA) def. Mestach/Njiric (BEL/CRO) walkover

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
#3 Beretta/Quiroz (PER/ECU) def. #4 Golding/Vesely (GBR/CZE) 6-1/7-5




*2010 GIRLS SLAM FINALS*
AO: Karolina Pliskova/CZE def. Laura Robson/GBR
RG: Elina Svitolina/UKR def. Ons Jabeur/TUN
WI: Kristyna Pliskova/CZE def. Sachie Ishizu/JPN
US: Daria Gavrilova/RUS def. Yulia Putintseva/RUS




TOP QUALIFIER: Michelle Larcher de Brito/POR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #1 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #1 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): #2 Kim Clijsters/BEL
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Laura Robson/GBR d. #2q Jelena Dokic/AUS 6-1/6-4
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - #4 Jelena Jankovic/SRB def. Simona Halep/ROU 6-4/4-6/7-5
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - #5 Stosur/AUS def. #12 Dementieva/RUS 6-3/2-6/7-6
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): SF - #2 Clijsters/BEL def. #3 V.Williams/USA 4-6/7-6/6-4
TOP NIGHT MATCH: 4th Rd. - #5 Stosur/AUS def. #12 Dementieva/RUS 6-3/2-6/7-6 (saved 4 MP, ended at 1:35 a.m.)
=============================
FIRST WINNER: #6 Francesca Schiavone/ITA (def. Ayumi Morita/JPN)
FIRST SEED OUT: #8 Li Na/CHN (lost to Kateryna Bondarenko/UKR)
UPSET QUEENS: The Taiwanese
REVELATION LADIES: The North Americans
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Mandy Minella/LUX & Lourdes Dominguez-Lino/ESP (3rd Rd.)
IT GIRL: Beatrice Capra/USA
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Kaia Kanepi/EST
COMEBACK PLAYER: Francesca Schiavone/ITA
CRASH & BURN: #10 Victoria Azarenka/BLR (retired after collapsing in 2nd Rd. vs. Gisela Dulko/ARG)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Samantha Stosur/AUS (down set and a break vs. Elena Vesnina/RUS in 1st Rd.; down 4 MP vs. Elena Dementieva/RUS in 4th Rd)
LAST AMERICAN STANDING: Venus Williams/USA (SF)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Venus Williams/USA
BROADWAY-BOUND: Vania King/USA
DOUBLES STAR Liezel Huber/USA
JUNIOR BREAKOUTS: Yulia Putintseva/RUS & Sloane Stephens/USA




All for now. More later after the Men's Final, including the 3Q Awards.