Black Tennis Pros

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2012 US Open Junior Girls' Doubles Champions (L-R) Taylor Townsend and Gabrielle Andrews

American girls Gabrielle Andrews and Taylor Townsend avenged their loss in the final of last year’s US Open on Saturday by defeating Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Petra Uberalova of Slovakia, 6-4, 6-3, to raise the 2012 trophy.

The win finishes off an incredible year for the American duo, who now have two Grand Slam junior titles to their name, adding the US Open title to their 2012 Australian Open championship they won as doubles partners in January. This also marks the third girls' doubles Grand Slam win and fourth Grand Slam finals appearance for Townsend, who won the Australian Open and made it to the French Open final with Canadian Eugenie Bouchard earlier this year.

In the first set of their match on Court 13 Saturday, it was an even contest, with both teams holding serve throughout. Serving at 4-4, Townsend was pushed to deuce, but after Bencic sent a return sailing long, the Americans held serve. Andrews and Taylor used that momentum to get a timely break in the following game and won the set, 6-4.

Neither team could hold serve to start the second set, exchanging breaks, until the U.S. girls regrouped and played lights-out tennis to finish the match off.

Meanwhile, on Court 11, the boys doubles final was pushed to a tiebreak, with Kyle Edmund of Great Britain and Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal overcoming the all-Australian team of Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (6). After battling it out for over an hour and a half, Edmund and Ferreira Silva hoisted the winner's trophy.

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Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga celebrates advancing to 2012 US Open second round.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga screamed to the blue heavens and pumped his signature double bicep curl, complete with thumbs pointing towards elated eyes as the gallery, solidly behind him, whooped in delight. The charismatic Frenchman completed his first US Open match of 2012 with a dominance fitting his career-best no. 5 seed, ousting Slovakian qualifier Karol Beck 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (2) to advance to the second round.

"I think I played good tennis the first two sets, and after that I lost a bit concentration at the beginning of the third set," said Tsonga. "Then I came back, and, you know, I did some effort to come back. It was not easy today because the weather was hot. I'm happy to go through this round really quickly."

Tsonga blended a sharp, booming forehand with nifty net play throughout, running Beck around the sunlit Grandstand. The drop shots fell early and often, as Tsonga won the point on 22 of 27 (81 percent) net approaches.

"He was moving really well," said Beck of Tsonga. "It was a tough draw, a tough player for the first round. I was trying to play more to his backhand and I thought it was going well in the third set, but you have to be better than playing your 100-percent best to beat someone like him."

Beck finally broke Tsonga early in the third set, trading service games through 5-4 and Beck serving for the set when Tsonga showed resolve, breaking back. Serving to go up 6-5, he swept all the points, punctuated by a 130 mile-per-hour ace, his thirteenth and final one of the match. Beck held serve and the two went to a tiebreak, where Tsonga finished things quickly, leading to his signature celebratory salute.

Up next for the 27-year-old will be another unranked Slovak, left-handed Martin Klizan, who defeated Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 on Monday for his first-ever US Open main draw victory. The two have never met as professionals.

Since Tsonga’s Wimbledon upset of 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, Tsonga’s has placed quarterfinals-or-better in four of five majors, including his longest trek in New York in 2011 where he defeated No. 19 Fernando Verdasco and No. 8 Mardy Fish before losing to Federer in the quarters. Should he reach the same round in 2012, it's likely that Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray will be waiting. The two have had their share of stellar matchups in the Slams, most recently a tough four-setter in July at Wimbledon won by Murray 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

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American James Blake during first round match against Lukas Lacko of Slovakia  on Day One of the 2012 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Native New Yorker and hometown favorite James Blake, now 32 and playing in his 12th US Open, and a new dad as of June, toughed out a lengthy, momentum-killing rain delay and defeated Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round in Louis Armstrong Stadium Monday.

After coming out a bit flat to start the first set, Blake and Lacko traded a slew of unforced errors. As the stands began to fill up with late-arriving supporters, Blake slowly found his rhythm. The 24-year-old Lacko – who hasn’t won a match since losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the third round at Wimbledon – continued to struggle.



In the first set, after serving his first perfect game of the match to tie the score at 5-5 and breaking Lacko with a cross-court Hail Mary return that just grazed the line, Blake grabbed a 6-5 lead. He served out the set 7-5 with a perfectly placed ace clocking in at 125 mph.

Blake cruised in the second set with the crowd behind him. The American capitalized on an early break of Lacko, and he built an insurmountable lead, finishing the set in 28 minutes.

That momentum vanished after a two-hour rain delay. The veteran Blake appeared stiff when he returned to the court, and he allowed Lacko back into the match, giving up his serve and essentially handing the Slovak the third set.

After trading early breaks in the fourth, Blake survived the brief scare, finally claiming the win on his fourth match point, as he confidently stepped around a backhand and crunched a forehand down the line.

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American Serena quickly dispatches Russian Vera Zvonareva on Day 5 of 2012 Olympics

LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN: Serena Williams needed just 51 minutes to crush Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-0 in the opening match on Centre Court and march on to the Olympic quarterfinals.

The five-time Wimbledon champion, who is seeking her first Olympic singles gold medal, totally dominated the match, breaking Zvonareva three times in both sets. Zvonareva, the Beijing bronze medallist, only managed to win seven points on Williams’s serve.

The match was a repeat of the pair’s 2010 Wimbledon final, but the result was even more devastating for Zvonareva. Then, Williams won 6-3, 6-2; today the Russian failed to get on the scoreboard after the third game. The Russian’s three-set defeat of Williams on grass at Eastbourne last year must have given her hope, but the nature of the American’s victory here proves again how much she saves her best for the big stage.

Williams broke Zvonareva’s serve in the opening game of the match and that set the tone for what followed. The Russian won her solitary game to get to 1-2, but after that it was all one-way traffic. Williams was too powerful, too consistent, and too accurate while her opponent struggled with her first serve. The American sealed the set with a forehand winner after just 25 minutes.

Zvonareva had chances in the second set but just couldn’t capitalise. She had two break points in the opening game but Williams held firm, winning the game with an ace. After that there were no more chances for the hapless Russian as her opponent raced away with the match.

Trailing 0-3, Zvonareva threw her racket to the ground in frustration, and even the non-Russian fans in the crowd did what they could to encourage her. Down 0-30 on her serve again in the last game, they gave her a spontaneous round of applause, but it failed to lift her and Williams got her first match point with a stunning service return. Zvonareva’s backhand found the net a point later and the American had won the match and handed her opponent the ignominy of a second set ‘bagel’.

Williams has yet to lose a set in three matches played in her quest to become Olympic champion and she looks in ominous form. She will meet either Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki or Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals.

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