It's tough to keep up with everything that goes on in two weeks of tennis at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. So we've compiled a point and counterpoint look at expected and unexpected moments both on and off the court at the 2006 US Open.
Tennis players have always used their on-court outfit choices to display their personalities, and this year was no exception. Here’s a review of the sartorial selections at the 2006 US Open.
The 6th seeded doubles team of Leander Paes and Martin Damm rebounded from a set down Saturday to upset second-seeded Max Mirnyi and Jonas Bjorkman in the final. With a score of 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, they triumphed for their first US Open Championship.
They had already beaten the odds to reach the women’s doubles finals, so it was not an overwhelming surprise that unseeded Nathalie Dechy and Vera Zvonareva were able to withstand the challenge from No. 8 seed Dinara Safina and Katarina Srebotnik to take the 2006 US Open title, 7-6, 7-5.
Playing in the very last match of her illustrious tennis career, Navratilova added to her long list of achievements Saturday in the US Open Mixed Doubles championship at Arthur Ashe Stadium. She and partner Bob Bryan captured the title by defeating Kveta Peschke and Martin Damm in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the junior girls' No. 1 seed and world No. 1, survived a hard-fought, three-hour match against No. 11 Tamira Paszek on Sunday to claim her first US Open championship title.
Esther Vergeer continued her spectacular undefeated run Sunday with a 6-1, 6-2 win over countrywoman Sharon Walraven in the women’s wheelchair final. Vergeer has not lost a match in three and a half years now.
The streak has begun. Robin Ammerlaan and Michael Jeremiasz won their second consecutive US Open wheelchair doubles title Saturday by defeating Shingo Kunieda and Tadeusz Kruszelnicki, 7-6 (2), 6-1.
