Ekaterina Makarova/ Bruno Soares capture mixed doubles crown of the US Open – Tennis Special
Russian-Brazilian duo, Ekaterina Makarova and Bruno Soares, stunned fourth seeds, Czech Republic’s Kveta Peschke and Poland’s Marcin Matkowski in a three-set thriller at the US Open 2012 on Thursday. They warded off two match points to formulate a 6-7(8),
6-1, 12-10 victory against the Czech-Polish collaboration, lifting the crown at this major hard court event taking place in Queens, New York City.
The unseeded duo remained focused throughout the match to jolt down Peschke and Matkowski in almost one and a half hour. After stealing the show, Makarova and Soares captured their first Grand Slam title at the Flushing Meadows.
"I was more nervous than Bruno in this match. The tie-break in the first set and the tie-break in the final set, maybe I seemed good, but inside I was really nervous."
Seeded fourth at this event, Peschke and Matkowski made a drastic entry at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. They gifted away their serve early in the set and went 1-3 down. Regardless of recovering afterwards, the seeds trailed in the tie-breaker and faced two set
points. However, the Czech-Polish junction remained solid in it and consequently bagged the opener with a 7-6(8) win.
The Russian-Brazilian duo perfected their ways in the following set and made a fitting reply. They fended off the lone breakpoint they came across to keep their entire serves and capitalised on two out of five break chances to pull out the equaliser with
a breadstick.
In the final set or the super tie-breaker, the underdogs spectacularly produced a first serve share of 91 per cent as opposed to the seeds’ 73 per cent. Makarova and Soares also marked seven out of 10 points on it and sealed the decider with a 12-10 success.
All in all, Makarova and Soares hammered 27 winners and sealed the deal with 76 points.
Soares reflected about his skills and match-ups at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center:
"After the first match we played really good, and we talked to each other and said, 'If we keep playing like this, for sure we're going to have a chance to win the title.' That's what happened. We had an amazing second round, and after that we knew it was
just a matter of keep playing good. We knew we were going to have a chance."
Makarova and Soares displayed top notch skills throughout the tournament. They shocked second seeded Americans, Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan, in the opening round. The Russian-Brazilian duo then triumphed over the Belgian-American tandem, Kim Clijsters and
Bob Bryan, in the following round. It was Clijsters final match of her career.
The in-form duo who signed up together in last minute went on to overpower Anastasia Rodionova and Jean-Julien Rojer in the final eight. They carried their rhythm in their semi-final clash and upset the seventh seeded Czechs, Lucie Hradecka and Frantisek
Cermak, in straight sets to set up this epic battle.
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