US 13.0 - Vikafication or Serenativity, Delayed (again)

Yet again -- imagine that! -- weather has messed with the U.S. Open schedule on the final weekend. Hours and hours before it was set to be played, the women's final was postponed until Sunday.



=DAY 13 NOTES=
...the Girls' singles final is set, and it WILL include a wild card Bannerette -- but not Victoria Duval. Duval lost to #12-seed Anett Kontaveit (EST), but fellow American wild card Samantha Crawford reached the final with a semifinal victory over #4-seed Antonia Lottner (GER). Grace Min (USA) won the Girls title in 2011, and there haven't been back-to-back Americans crowned in the Open juniors since Meilen Tu and Tara Snyder won in 1994-95.

In the Girls Doubles, a year after coming up short in the final, Bannerettes Taylor Townsend & Gabby Andrews (the #4 seeds) defeated #2-seeded Belinda Bencic & Petra Uberalova (SUI/SVK) 6-4/6-3 in the final. The pair also won the Australian Open junior crown this year, and Taylor added an additional title in Girls Doubles at Wimbledon with Eugenie Bouchard. Of course, I'm sure this development will only embolden the USTA, which has come down on Taylor (the #1 singles seed at this event) -- to the display of the likes of Navratilova, Davenport and others -- this summer because of her fitness, pulling her from certain events. Oh, I can hear some USTAer now... "see, she wins the doubles but not the singles because she's not in good enough shape to cover more than half the court."

In the Boys, Filip Peliwo advanced to his fourth straight junior slam singles final. At Wimbledon, Peliwo became the first Canadian boy to win a slam singles title. He'll face Liam Broady, who'll be trying (along with Andy Murray in the men's final), to grab a singles crown one year after fellow Brit Oliver Golding won the junior title at Flushing Meadow. Murray was the U.S. Open's Boys champ in 2004.

...and, finally, one day after Esther Vergeer won her fourth straight Gold in singles at the Paralympics Games in London, she picked up her third (w/ one Silver) Gold in doubles on Saturday.

Yesterday, with her 470-match singles win streak still intact, Vergeer publicly addressed the notion that her career may not last much longer. She even mentioned the "r" word. "I have been thinking about this question a lot before going into this Paralympic Games, whether to keep going or to retire," she said. "But I haven't made the decision yet." She added, "I like the game, so I will continue playing, but for how long I have no clue. It also depends what is going to happen at home, business opportunities, private life."

Now in her thirties, and regularly opposing players up to ten years younger than herself in major finals, Vergeer often faces athletes whom her success has inspired. "It's one of the best compliments you can ever get that somebody is inspired by you, or is motivated by you to go and play sport or to get a better life. So I feel proud that I am in that position," she said. She also knows that her nearly decade-long winning streak can't last forever, as well.

"I know the day I will lose will come, but I don't know when."



*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. #4 Serena Williams/USA

*MEN'S SINGLES SF*
#3 Andy Murray/GBR def. #6 Tomas Berdych/CZE
#4 David Ferrer/ESP vs. #2 Novak Djokovic/SRB

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#3 Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) vs. #2 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#2 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) def. #5 Paes/Stepanek (IND/CZE) 6-3/6-4

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
Makarova/Soares (RUS/BRA) def. #4 Peschke/Matkowski (CZE/POL) 6-7/6-1/12-10

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
#12 Anett Kontaveit/EST vs. (WC) Samantha Crawford/USA

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
#13 Liam Broady/GBR vs. #2 Filip Peliwo/CAN

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
#4 Andrews/Townsend (USA/USA) def. #2 Bencic/Uberalova (SUI/SVK) 6-4/6-3

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
#8 Edmund/Ferreira Silva (GBR/POR) def. #6 Kyrgios/Thompson (AUS/AUS) 5-7/6-4/10-6





All for Day 13. More tomorrow.