Fantastic Finish for Hantuchova-Bhupathi
by William Toussaint
Thursday, September 8, 2005
The unseeded mixed doubles team of Daniela Hantuchova and Mahesh Bhuphati
defeated Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjic, 6-4, 6-2, on Thursday in the
final round of the US Open mixed doubles championships.
With the victory, Hantuchova, 22, completed her first career Grand Slam, having
also won mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon in 2001 with Leos Friedl, at the
2002 Australian Open with Kevin Ullyett, and earlier this year at Roland Garros
with Fabrice Santoro. Bhuphati, 31, recorded his ninth Grand Slam title. The
two had never played together before this year's US Open.
"I feel fantastic. It's really something special. It means a lot to me. Now I
guess I can concentrate on my singles career, especially having a partner like
Mahesh, it makes it even more special," said Hantuchova, who reached a career
high singles ranking of No. 5 in 2003. She said she learned a lot about
"covering the court the right way, going for the right shots at the right
time."
Thursday's title match stayed close until Hantuchova-Bhuphati broke serve to
take a 4-3 lead in the first set. The match was quickly wrapped up in just
one-hour, one-minute and was nowhere near as close as the champions first
round match against Tiantian Sun and Simon Aspelin.
In that match, Hantuchova-Bhuphati came back from being down on a match-point
super tiebreaker to win 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9).
"The fact that we fought hard and came out of that, we knew we were a good team.
Winning matches like that is what makes it special," said Bhuphati. "We had a
very tough draw."
- With the US Open Mixed Doubles title, Hantuchova completed her first career
Grand Slam.
- Bhupathi has nine Grand Slam titles.
- Srebotnik's highest career ranking in singles is No. 30 (February 3rd, 2003).
- With doubles partner Leander Paes, Zimonjic won the ATP Masters Series
Monte Carlo against the Bryan brothers.
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