US OPEN DAILY UPDATE – DAY 13 (Super Saturday)

Written by: Staff on 10th September 2011

US OPEN DAILY UPDATE – DAY 13 (Super Saturday)

Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a return to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France during their Quarterfinals round match on the eleventh day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 08 September 2011. The US Open has been extended due to weather for the fourth year in a row and the men's final will now be played on 12 September 2011. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

US OPEN DAILY UPDATE – DAY 13 (Super Saturday)

It’s a whole new version of Super Saturday at the 2011 US Open, with all four semifinal matches being played on the same day, and with finals taking place in men’s doubles, wheelchair doubles and quad doubles. The men take to the court during the Day Session with the top four seeds all advancing to the semifinals here for the first time since 1992. Kicking things off is the latest incarnation of one of the great US Open Finals

Weekend rivalries of the Open Era, Roger Federer versus Novak Djokovic, while Andy Murray follows in pursuit of a second US Open final against a dominant Rafael Nadal, who has dropped just one set in his last 12 matches in Flushing Meadows. The women will follow at night as seed slayer Serena Williams, undefeated on hard courts this summer, pursues a fifth US Open final against No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, the only Top 8 seed remaining in a topsy-turvy draw. The other semifinal features No. 9 Samantha Stosur facing off against unseeded Angelique Kerber, who is attempting to become just the fourth unseeded women’s singles finalist of the Open Era.

Tennis history for this day…

1933 – Fred Perry ends Jack Crawford’s bid for the first Grand Slam of tennis and wins his first U.S. men’s singles title with a 6-3, 11-13, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory over the Australian.

1962 – Rod Laver becomes the first man since Don Budge in 1938 to win the Grand Slam when he defeats Roy Emerson in the final of the U.S. Championships. Margaret Smith wins the women’s singles title to become the first Australian woman to win the U.S. women’s title.

1972 – Ilie Nastase trails two sets to one and faces break point at 1-3 in the fourth set, but comes back to defeat Arthur Ashe, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, in the men’s singles final.

1978 – Jimmy Connors becomes the first and only player to win the US Open on three different surfaces, defeating Bjorn Borg, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, in the first men’s final played on the Deco Turf II courts at the new USTA National Tennis Center. Connors previously won the 1974 US Open on grass and the 1976 US Open on clay courts.

1983 – Martina Navratilova wins her first US Open women’s singles championship, defeating Chris Evert Lloyd in the final, 6-1, 6-3.

1988 – Steffi Graf becomes the third women to complete the Grand Slam, defeating Gabriela Sabatini in the women’s final, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. A month later she will win the Olympic gold medal in Seoul as well for the first-ever “Golden Slam.”

1989 – Boris Becker becomes the first German man to win the US Open, defeating Ivan Lendl in the final, 7- 6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6. Lendl appears in his eighth straight US Open final, which ties him with Bill Tilden for the all-time record.

1994 – Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario becomes the first Spanish woman to win the US Open when she defeats Steffi Graf, 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-4, in the women’s singles final.

1995 – Pete Sampras wins his third US Open men’s singles title, defeating No. 1 seed and defending champion Andre Agassi, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, in the final.

1999 – Martina Hingis breaks up a potential Williams sisters US Open singles final by defeating Venus Williams, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, in the semifinals. Earlier in the day, Serena Williams defeats defending champion Lindsay Davenport, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, to advance to her first US Open singles final.

2000 – Marat Safin stuns four-time US Open champion Pete Sampras, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, to become the first Russian to win the US Open men’s singles title. At 20 years, 7 months and 14 days, Safin is the thirdyoungest men’s singles champion of the Open Era, behind Sampras and John McEnroe.

2005 – Kim Clijsters collects a $2.2 million paycheck for winning both the US Open and Olympus US Open Series. Clijsters captures the first Grand Slam tournament singles title of her career in her fifth appearance in a Grand Slam final, defeating Mary Pierce, 6-3, 6-1. Also, Robby Ginepri sets a US Open record with his fourth consecutive five-set match, losing an all-American semifinal against Andre Agassi, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

2006 – Roger Federer becomes the first man ever to win back-to-back Wimbledon and US Open crowns for three straight years when he fights off Andy Roddick in the men’s singles final, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. In the stands are Roddick’s new coach, Jimmy Connors, and golf great Tiger Woods, who attends as a guest of Federer’s and celebrates with him in the locker room afterward.

(Courtesy of USTA)