By Ricky Dimon
Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Martin Del Potro did not go the distance. The women’s doubles final, however, most certainly did.
In Sunday’s most dramatic match, Coco Vandeweghe and Ashleigh Barty saved three championship points to outlast Timea Babos and Kiki Mladenovic 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(6). Vandeweghe and Barty fought off two match points from 15-40 down at 4-5 in the second set and they survived another at 5-6 in the third-set tiebreaker on a Barty forehand winner.
“The one I remember clearly is the match point that Ash saved on her serve,” Vandeweghe reflected. “I thought she hit a backhand. I was, like, That’s the biggest lace of a backhand I’ve ever seen. She’s like, No, that was a forehand. I was like, ‘Thank God. We’re all good here.’ It was unbelievable nerves from Ash. She basically has ice in the veins right now. That was so clutch.”
“This last fortnight has been really fun on and off the court,” Barty assured. “We’ve been relaxed. We’re very hungry to go as deep as we could. It was really nice to be able to play a pretty clean tournament.”
“I think first of all was an amazing doubles final,” Mladenovic concluded. “We have no regrets because we gave it all. Even with the amazingly tough situation from not finishing and closing it out in the second set, we got [down a break in the third] and we still came back and we were again the first one to have match point in the third.”
Juniors and wheelchair competitions also came to an end on championship Sunday.
In the juniors tournaments, Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild triumphed on the boys side. He beat Italy’s Lorenzi Musetti 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. Chinese player Xiyu Wang lifted the girls trophy following a 7-6(4), 6-2 defeat of France’s Clara Burel.
There was an upset in the men’s wheelchair singles final, as Alfie Hewett got the best of living legend Shingo Kuneida 6-3, 7-5. It was a battle between the No. 1 (Kuneida) and No. 2 (Hewett) seeds. Kunedia has won an unbelievable 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
Topics: 2018 US Open, Atp, Doubles tennis, Juan Martin Del Potro, Junior Tennis, Mixed Doubles, Novak Djokovic, Sports, US Open tennis, Wheelchair Tennis, Wta