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Paes - Hingis win thrilling Mixed Doubles Final at the US Open

administrator@thesportscampus.com (Arjun Wadhwa) — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 21:13:49 +0000

The fourth seeded Indo-Swiss pairing of Leander Paes and Martina Hingis overcame the challenge of the All-American duo of Sam Querrey and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in a match truly worthy of a final 10-7 in a Championship tiebreaker to win the US Open Mixed Doubles title of 2015.

Paes and Hingis had already won the Australian Open and Wimbledon Mixed Doubles crown this year, while on the other side of the net they squared off against another very good doubles player in Mattek-Sands, the reigning French Open Mixed Doubles. Sam Querrey was the least experienced amongst the four and was playing in his first ever Grand Slam final.

Paes and Hingis started the match well taking an early break and holding on to that advantage to claim the first set 6-4. Paes and Hingis were far from their best in that first set, but were playing just well enough to stay ahead of their opponents.

That situation reversed itself in the second set. After Mattek-Sands squeezed out a narrow hold in the third game, Martina Hingis dropped serve in the next game and it was the Americans who were firmly in control as they wrapped up the second set 6-3.

Mattek-Sands in particular was the best player on court, catching Leander Paes moving early at the net on multiple occasions and holding her shot till the last possible second to pass the Indian poacher comfortably. Hingis meanwhile was also struggling against the raw power of the Americans, who were outhitting her from the back of the court.

The Americans went up an early mini break in the deciding match tiebreak and raced to a 4-1 lead. That advantage stretched itself to 5-2 before the Indo-Swiss duo staged an unlikely comeback to level things up at 5-5. The teams changed ends still locked at 6-6.

Paes came through for his team on the clutch points, producing an excellent winner down the line as he returned Mattek-Sands' serve and that gave his side the mine-break. At 8-7 with two serves to follow the match was on Leander's racquet, but the Indian legend still couldn't buy a first serve.

Paes produced an excellent half-volley from Mattek-Sands' return to make it 9-7 and closed out the match on the next point to clinch his 9th Mixed Doubles title and 17th Grand Slam in all.

Hingis continues to be one better than Leander, claiming her 18th career Grand Slam title and will look to stretch that to 19 when she partners another Indian Sania Mirza in the Women's Doubles Final on Sunday.

Final Score:

[4] Leander Paes / Martina Hingis d. Sam Querrey / Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 3-6 [10-7]

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Viva Italiano as Vinci stuns Serena to setup all Italian US Open Final

administrator@thesportscampus.com (Arjun Wadhwa) — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 19:25:19 +0000

Serena Williams' pursuit of Steffi Graf's 1998 accomplishment - a Calendar Grand Slam - and her Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles has been put on hold as the world no.1 crashed out in incredible fashion to unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci in the semi-finals of the US Open on Friday afternoon.

In what was truly an incredible match, Vinci's desire to run down every ball and her all court game stunted the legendary American's prowess when it appeared for all money that recreating history was in Serena's grasp.

In the first of the women's semi-finals on Friday, 26th seed Flavia Pennetta had already set hearts aflutter when she stunned world no.2 Simona Halep 6-1, 6-3 in what was largely a one-sided contest. Halep, who had put in so much in her quarter-final victory over Victoria Azarenka, appeared to be running on empty and made uncharacteristic errors to hand Pennetta an easy win.

Flavia raced through the opening set and apart from a momentary blip when she lost three games in a row to surrender a 3-1 lead in the second, appeared in complete control of the contest. Flavia, rattled off the last 5 games of the match, including 19 of the last 21 points to romp into her first Grand Slam Final.

The defeat of Halep would have given Serena Williams a further boost heading into her semi-final match, knowing that she had two Italians, who had never beaten her standing in her way and history.

The first set went comfortably Serena's way as she raced through it 6-2 in 31 minutes, and it seemed like only a matter of time before she would take her record against Roberta Vinci to 5-0.

However, Vinci developed some self belief in the second set and made Serena work harder for every point, giving virtually nothing away. Roberta also started venturing further forward, looking to take advantage of her exceptional volleying skills to stretch the contest.

Suddenly out of nowhere she picked up a break of serve against the run of play and made the most of the opportunity to nick the set 6-4 and force the match into a decider.

Usually when she finds her back to the wall, Serena finds another level, that second set though had taken a lot out of her physically, and Vinci just wasn't giving her any free points. As her frustration grew, so did her unforced error count, and Serena made 19 in the third set alone, almost as many as she had in the first two sets combined.

The duo traded breaks early in the set before Vinci broke Serena in the 7th game to take what proved to be the decisive break. A nervy hold extended her advantage to 5-3, but Serena wasn't going to give up without a fight and she held on to her own serve to make Vinci have to serve for a play in the decider.

First serves continued to elude Vinci, who landed only 11 of 30 in the entire final set, yet she held serve amazingly to love to wrap up a thrilling 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win and book her place in her maiden Grand Slam final.

Women's Semi-final

[26] F Pennetta d. [2] S Halep 6-1 6-3

R. Vinci d. [1] S Williams 2-6 6-4 6-4

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Captain Morgan helps England level the series 2-2

administrator@thesportscampus.com (Arjun Wadhwa) — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 18:05:54 +0000

England made it back to back wins against Australia at Headingley on Friday to level the five match ODI series at 2-2 heading into the series decider at Old Trafford, Manchester.

Australia won what might have been a good toss to lose, and decided to bat first in conditions which offered a little bit of assistance to the bowlers early on. David Willey, back in the side for today's game, made the most of the opportunity provided to him as he quickly reduced Australia to 30-3, removing both Aussie openers in addition to taking the key wicket of Aussie skipper Steve Smith for 5.

Glenn Maxwell benefited from being dropped twice as he made a counter-attacking 85 from just 64 balls to help Australia out of a hole, and shared a partnership worth 137 with George Bailey for the fourth wicket. Bailey made a more sedate 75 from 110 balls as he attempted to bat through the innings and help Australia post a competitive score.

The spin of Moeen Ali once again out did the Aussies as the part-time offspinner ran through his 10 overs, taking 2-40 to put a skid on the scoring rate. Ali also picked up the crucial wicket of Maxwell, who played one reserve sweep too many and lost his leg stump.

Australia were once again in a hole as they slid from 210-4 to 217-7, but Matthew Wade (50* from 26 balls) and John Hastings (34* from 26 balls) helped them post a challenging total of 299 on the board.

England continue to have problems with their opening pairing, Alex Hales in particular, with the youngster falling for naught leg before to Cummins. Cummins was Australia's leading weapon with the ball with the fast bowler taking 4-49 from his 10 overs.

Jason Roy, who had dropped Maxwell earlier in the day when he was only on 6, tried to make up for his error as he gave England another speedy start, making a crisp 36 from 33 balls.

James Taylor also continued his good run of form as he made an impressive 41 at nearly a run a ball before Mitchell Marsh got rid of him.

With both men falling in quick succession England needed a partnership and Eoin Morgan (92 from 92 balls) and Ben Stokes (41 from 54 balls) delivered.

Morgan was finally dismissed by a wonder catch from Maxwell at backward point, while Marsh continued to impress with the ball, getting rid of Stokes.

England's deep batting order though bailed them out of a tough spot again as Moeen Ali kept a cool head, making an unbeaten 21 from 23 balls, and in the company of Jonny Bairstow (33), Liam Plunkett (17) and David Willey (12*) saw England comfortably home with 10 balls to spare.

Mini Scorecard:

Australia 299-7 (50 overs, 5.98rpo)

G Maxwell 85 (64) D Willey 3-51 (8)

G Bailey 75 (110) M Ali 2-40 (10)

England 304-7 (48.2 overs, 6.28rpo)

E Morgan 92 (92) P Cummins 4-49 (10)

J Taylor 41 (42) M Marsh 2-52 (9)

England win by 3 wickets

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Swiss superstars set for US Open semi-final showdown

administrator@thesportscampus.com (Arjun Wadhwa) — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 09:23:35 +0000

Swiss Davis Cup teammates Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka will clash against each other in the semi-finals of the US Open after both men produced outstanding performances on a wet Wednesday at Flushing Meadows, New York.

Federer was in quarter-final action against Frenchman Richard Gasquet out on Arthur Ashe Stadium, while the inclement weather meant that Wawrinka's match against the big serving South African Kevin Anderson had to be moved out onto Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Neither Swiss star was in a mood to hang around though as they ripped winners galore from the back of the court to pummel their opponents into submission.

Federer, a 5-time champion here at Flushing Meadows, put on a tennis clinic in front of an adoring public as he dismantled Gasquet in three very clinical sets, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. Federer was in ridiculously amazing form, winning 87% of the points on his first serve and didn't face a break point all through the match.

Over on Armstrong, Wawrinka was just as clinical dismantling South African Kevin Anderson, who was playing in his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.

Anderson though didn't do himself any favours, failing to land enough first serves, and looked like he hadn't quite yet recovered from his 4 hour marathon win against Andy Murray in the previous round.

Anderson battled bravely in the first couple of sets, but then went away rather timidly in the end, as he succumbed to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 defeat to the reigning French Open champion.

Federer will bring a very healthy 16-3 career head-to-head record against Wawrinka into Friday's semi-final. Wawrinka though will look to draw inspiration from their most recent meeting at the French Open when Wawrinka prevailed and went on to win the title, beating Novak Djokovic in the final. The younger Swiss will hope to do a repeat of just that later this week.

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South Africa announce all 3 squads for India Tour

administrator@thesportscampus.com ( ) — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 09:16:16 +0000

Cricket South Africa (CSA) today named three specialist spinners in the Proteas Test squad for the four-match Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela Series against India. Both Imran Tahir and Dane Piedt return to the squad to join incumbent Simon Harmer.

“We want to keep all our options open for the Test Series,” commented CSA selection convener, Linda Zondi. “We also have JP Duminy as an option in this department and I believe we have covered all our bases by having both holding and attacking spin options in our squad. It is good to have Dane back from his injury and Imran was our No. 1 spinner for our last Test series on the sub-continent against Sri Lanka.”

Zondi also confirmed that Dane Vilas would retain the gloves in this format. “It is very important that we maintain consistency in our selections and Dane hardly had the chance to make his mark in Bangladesh where the series was so badly disrupted by the weather.”

Imran also returns to the Oxigen Proteas T20 squad in the place of Aaron Phangiso while there are also recalls for Chris Morris and Marchant de Lange. “The tour to India is a very long one,” emphasized Zondi. “It lasts for more than two months and we can’t expect Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel to field too heavy a workload. Chris comes back after a spell out through injury while Marchant has done well at the IPL. It is an ideal opportunity to explore our back-up options ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 which will be played in India. It is vital in this format to get wickets up front.

“Imran is our No. 1 bowler in the T20 format and we need him to play every series between now and the ICC tournament while Eddie Leie will be our second spinner as we want to have another look at what he can do.

“Chris is also a potential candidate for a position as a bowling all-rounder in the ODI team so this is another option we want to explore. We also believe he is well suited to the conditions we will encounter there.”

Rilee Rossouw has been ruled out of the T20 squad through injury but should return to full fitness in time for the ODI series. His place in the T20 squad will be taken by new cap, Khaya Zondo. The latter had the second best batting average of 38.50 (behind Quinton de Kock) for South Africa A in the recent triangular ODI series in India and also had the best strike rate of those who played in all four matches (106.94). He will become the 65th player to represent the Proteas in the T20 format.

Proteas Test squad: Hashim Amla (Cape Cobras, capt), AB de Villiers (The Unlimited Titans, vice-capt), Temba Bavuma (bizhub Highveld Lions), JP Duminy (Cape Cobras), Faf du Plessis (The Unlimited Titans), Dean Elgar (The Unlimited Titans), Simon Harmer (Warriors), Imran Tahir (Sunfoil Dolphins), Morne Morkel (The Unlimited Titans), Vernon Philander (Cape Cobras), Dane Piedt (Cape Cobras), Kagiso Rabada (bizhub Highveld Lions), Dale Steyn (Cape Cobras), Stiaan van Zyl (Cape Cobras), Dane Vilas (Cape Cobras).

Proteas ODI squad: AB de Villiers (The Unlimited Titans, capt), Kyle Abbott (Sunfoil Dolphins), Hashim Amla (Cape Cobras), Farhaan Behardien (The Unlimited Titans), Quinton de Kock (The Unlimited Titans), JP Duminy (Cape Cobras), Faf du Plessis (The Unlimited Titans), Imran Tahir (Sunfoil Dolphins), David Miller (Sunfoil Dolphins), Morne Morkel (The Unlimited Titans), Chris Morris (The Unlimited Titans), Aaron Phangiso (bizhub Highveld Lions), Kagiso Rabada (bizhub Highveld Lions), Rilee Rossouw (VKB Knights), Dale Steyn (Nashua Cape Cobras).

Proteas T20 squad: Faf du Plessis (The Unlimited Titans, capt), Kyle Abbott (Sunfoil Dolphins), Hashim Amla (Nashua Cape Cobras), Farhaan Behardien (The Unlimited Titans), Quinton de Kock (The Unlimited Titans), Marchant de Lange (The Unlimited Titans), AB de Villiers (The Unlimited Titans), JP Duminy (Nashua Cape Cobras), Imran Tahir (Sunfoil Dolphins), Eddie Leie (bizhub Highveld Lions), David Miller (Sunfoil Dolphins), Chris Morris (The Unlimited Titans), Kagiso Rabada (bizhub Highveld Lions), David Wiese (The Unlimited Titans), Khaya Zondo (Sunfoil Dolphins).