Hingis wins U.S. Open doubles title with Mirza

Five different players or teams who were the top seeds in their respective events lifted U.S. Open trophies on Sunday. Novak Djokovic, of course, was the headliner. But what transpired in juniors, women’s doubles, and the wheelchair tournaments should not be overlooked.

The junior boys final was an all-American showdown between No. 1 seed Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. Both players were contesting the last junior match of their careers, but they were not necessarily in the exact same situation. Paul was hoping to win a second slam in less than four months, having previously triumphed at the French Open. Fritz was aiming to capture a major title for the first time in his career.

A back-and-forth encounter saw Fritz ultimately prevail 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2. He led by a set and 5-3 and had a championship point before Paul stormed back to steal the second and seize a quick break for 1-0 in the third. But Fritz righted the ship to take six of the last seven games.

“I wanted to win a junior slam so bad,” Fritz commented. “I was just thinking it’s not going to be easy because I have one chance to do it. When you want something so bad and there is just one last chance there [are] a lot of nerves, and anything can happen. It’s the perfect ending. I can’t believe I actually got the perfect ending.”

It was the same ending–at least of this fortnight–for the dominant duo of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. They won it all in women’s doubles by defeating Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-3.

“We are happy to win our second slam together,” Mirza assured. “We didn’t think when we started playing obviously this was going to happen so soon. Obviously we are the No. 1 team in the world, so we have to keep building on this.”

“All of this today, I think incredible,” Hingis added. “It’s a tremendous bonus in my career of tennis.”

Shingo Kunieda’s amazing wheelchair tennis career reached new heights with a sixth U.S. Open title. Borderline unbeatable at times, Kunieda actually endured a minor scare on Sunday. Stephane Houdet of France took the first set off the Japanese star but the underdog eventually succumbed 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2.

The favorites also got the job done in wheelchair men’s doubles. Houdet bounced back from his loss to take the title along with British partner Gordon Reid. They rolled over Frenchmen Michael Jeremiasz and Nicolas Peifer 6-3, 6-1.