TENNIS BITS & PIECES – Sock & Pospisil in record books, Serena wins US Open Series, Federer reaches ATP Finals, Del Potro out of US Open and who’s playing where this week. Joshua Bosco
A new record for a new duo
After just eight weeks together, Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock are already in the record books.
Their partnership got off to a fantastic start with 14 straight wins, shattering a 30-year-old record belonging to Paul Annacone and Christo van Rensburg, who won their first 12 matches as a doubles team.
In their incredible run Pospisil and Sock clinched titles at Wimbledon and the Citi Open in Washington before reaching the final in Cincinnati on Sunday. Here they played a rematch of their Wimbledon final against the Bryan Brothers: the Americans avenged their defeat winning 6-3 6-2 in just 53 minutes to claim their 99th title as a team.
2014 US Open Series
World No.1 Serena Williams became the first woman to win the US Open Series three times after defeating Caroline Wozniacki 2-6 6-2 6-4 in the semi-final of the Cincinnati Masters.
The American, who went on to win the tournament defeating Ana Ivanovic in the final, has now set her eyes on a whopping $4 million US Open prize: $3 million for the Grand Slam win plus $1 million for the US Open Series. Should she win in Flushing Meadows, it will be the biggest pay-out ever in tennis history.
On the men’s side, Milos Raonic has virtually clinched the US Open Series title: he is 110 points clear of Roger Federer, who won’t be competing in next week’s Winston-Salem Open. The only two players who can surpass him are John Isner and Kevin Anderson, but they both need the title in North Carolina this week to make it happen.
Federer makes the cut
With his semi-final win over Milos Raonic, Roger Federer became the third player after Nadal and Djokovic to make the cut for the ATP World Tour Finals.
It’s the thirteenth consecutive time that Federer qualifies for the season final showdown, a tournament he has already won a record six times.
Del Potro ruled out of US Open
Juan Martin del Potro has ruled himself out of the 2014 US Open, while he continues to recover from the wrist surgery he underwent in March. He’s still on course to make his comeback at the Malaysian Open, which takes place in September, as he had already announced in June.
Other players who have already announced their withdrawal are Alexandr Dolgopolov, Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Haas while last year’s winner Rafael Nadal is expected to make an announcement regarding his appearance in the next couple of days.
As of today, 2013 semi-finalist Li Na is the only woman to have officially withdrawn from the tournament.
Davis Cup relocates
The ITF has decided to move the Davis Cup tie between Israel and Argentina from Tel Aviv to Sunrise, Florida. The decision came after it was ruled that the match could not be played in Israel due to the situation in Gaza.
Who’s playing where
There are only two major tournaments this week in the lead up to the US Open.
The men will fly to North Carolina for the Winston-Salem Open, where defending champion Jurgen Melzer will be joined by John Isner, Kevin Anderson, Tommy Robredo, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, Lukas Rosol and Andreas Seppi. Ivan Dodig, Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock are among the players who have withdrawn before the start of the tournament.
In New Haven eight of the Top 16 WTA players will take part in the 2014 Connecticut Open, where top seed Simona Halep will try to defend her 2013 title against the likes of Petra Kvitova, Eugenie Bouchard, Caroline Wozniacki, Dominika Cibulkova, Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani and Carla Suarez Navarro. Wildcards for the tournament were given to Kirsten Flipkens, Andrea Petkovic and Sam Stosur.
