[Season 4](Day 36) Child wins 6th Grand Slam Title

dav6789 · [Season 4](Day 36) Child wins 6th Grand Slam Title

Vanessa Child strengthened her hold on the FTL tour at the US Open, as she won the 6th Grand Slam title of her illustrious career at the US Open last week. Child, the defending champion, struggled to play well throughout the draw, but used her intensity and ‘never-say-die’ attitude to fight her way to another Grand Slam title. Since winning Wimbledon, she had only played two events coming into the US Open, including a warm-up event the week before in France. Even though she won that event and looked to be fully prepared, she was still rusty in the early rounds. In her first match against world number 36 Rachy, she lost an error-filled first set on a tie-break. She only just managed to save herself in the middle of the second set, before going on to win the final set 6-1. In the 3rd round, it was a similar story against J-man. J-man, unseeded this year, had upset 16th seed leftys_rock in the previous round, and came out firing against the world number 1. Child once again rallied to even the match and eventually won it 4-6 6-4 6-3 to ensure a place in the last eight. 2nd seed Yodavitch had also struggled through the early rounds. He started his campaign against young American Tennis Fan. He won in two close sets 6-4 7-5. In the next round, he rallied to defeat the 15th seed Phobe, a much more experienced opponent, 4-6 6-3 6-2. Yodavitch, like Child had looked average in the first week, nowhere near the heights they had produced before the US Open.

All of the other big names had survived the first week apart from Tricatrina and Jennacourt. Tricatrina, the 4th seed and champion two years ago, lost to Mollusk in straight sets in the last 16. Former world number 1 Jennacourt was thrashed in the same round by 11th seed stevos, 6-2 6-3 The rest of the draw were looking to take advantage of the out of sorts Child and Yodabitch. NEA, the 3rd seed who won two titles during the hardcourt season, had a fairly easy route through to the QF. He ended an inspired run by former Champion John Edelstein in the 3rd round 6-2 3-6 6-4. Edelstein, who is coming close to ending his career, had a huge win over 14th seed Agassi2000 in the 2nd round. Home favourite and 5th seed PSALT came through to his first US Open QF for 4 years, beating last years’ semi-finalist and Team Cup team-mate Jbors47 6-4 6-4. 7th seed dav6789 had to fight hard to reach another US Open QF. He had struggled to find his best form since the start of the year, and had the worst losing streak of his career during the summer. He ended that in his first match against Duke, and then went on to win a marathon match over 10th seed x.doublea 7-5 5-7 6-4. The last QF place was taken by former finalist and 9th seed Stroganoff. She had dropped the least games on her way to the QF, with a spectacular 6-4 6-4 win over 8th seed Bizet.

As the second week came around, many people had put money on Stroganoff beating Vanessa Child in their QF match. Stroganoff had the most comfortable route to the QF, compared with Child’s 3-set struggles. The match was even from the start as expected, until Child stepped up o clinch the first set 7-5. From there, any hopes of an upset soon went as Stroganoff couldn’t recover in time. Child wrapped up the match 7-5 6-3, the first match where she looked in her best form. PSALT and Mollusk were playing for a chance to play Child in the last 4. The match was very tight all the way through. Mollusk won the first set 7-5. A pro-PSALT crowd inspired him to hit back and win the second set 6-4. The final set went right down to the wire. PSALT saved a match point in the tie-break at 5-6 in the tie-break to win 5-7 6-4 7-6 and advance to the SF for the first timee. NEA and stevos had a similarly exciting encounter. stevos picked up from where he left off against Jennacourt, and won the first 7-5. NEA halted stevos in his tracks in the second set, winning it 6-2. He came out to a strong 3-0 lead in the final set before stevos ralied back to lead 4-3. The set went to 5-5 when NEA won two close games to win the match. Yodavitch and dav6789 had both played below their best coming into their QF meeting, but Yodavitch had been playing better throughout the summer. The match was close, but dav6789 couldn’t get himself going as Yodavitch went through 6-4 7-5.

The SF line-up was a high quality and competitive one. Vanessa Child and Yodavitch had looked better in their QF matches, but PSALT and NEA were players capable of creating an upset. PSALT won the first set against Child 6-2 to the delight of the crowd. The 5th seed failed to capitalise on his lead however, and Child rallied back to win the match 2-6 6-3 6-3. The other SF between NEA and Yodavitch was a closer affair. The pair split the first two sets 6-3 before the match really caught fire in the third. Yodavith played his best tennis of the tournament to win it 7-5.

Child and Yodavitch, the world’s two best players, played each other for the third time in a row at a Grand Slam. Child won their encounters at the French Open and Wimbledon, but Yodavitch beat her during the summer. Both had been rusty in the earlier rounds, but raised their level in their QF’s and SF’s. Child came out quickly and won the first set 6-3. She hesitated slightly in the second set and allowed Yodavitch back into the match. He took the second set 6-3. In the final set, Child raced to a 3-0 lead, which later became a 5-1 lead. Yodavitch pulled back to 5-3, but couldn’t continue his momentum. Child won the match on her 3rd match point 6-3 3-6 6-3 in another close match between the top two players. This is Child’s 3rd Grand Slam in a row, and she has now won the French Open and US Open twice each, aswell as Wimbledon three times. Her and Yodavitch have again leapt ahead of the rest of the field and are on course to finish the year as the top 2 players in the world. Yodavitch still has a chance to dethrone Child. It will take a massive effort from the rest of the top 10 to get in the way of Child and Yodavitch. They are the only Grand Slam champions of the year, and only two other players have contested Grand Slam finals. Child is still looking for a career Grand Slam, her best result at the Australian Open was a SF 4 years ago.

As usual for this time of year, players concentrate on getting the extra points they need to ensure they qualify for the Federer Masters Cup during the indoor season. The new race ranking system will decide who qualifies this year.