US Open Series Week-By-Week Notes
Week 1
American James Blake took the early lead in the men’s US Open Series race by claiming the title at the RCA Championships in Indianapolis. Blake, the top seed in the event, bested fellow American Roddick, the second seed, in the final to claim the crown, winning a tiebreaker in the final set to do so.
It marked just the second time in eight head-to-head match-ups that Blake came out the victor against Roddick.
Blake failed to reach the quarterfinals in his subsequent US Open Series tournaments.
Roddick was able to taste glory later in the day, however, as he and Bobby Reynolds posted a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Paul Goldstein and Jim Thomas in the doubles championship match.
Week 2
Men
At the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles it was Tommy Haas rising above the rest of the field to win his second title in three years at the event. The sixth seed from Germany rallied past No. 8 seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in the final, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Andre Agassi, participating in the event for the final time, was ousted in the quarterfinals by Gonzalez, while Roddick pulled out in the quarters due to a muscle strain in his side.
Bob and Mike Bryan captured the doubles crown, marking their third title in six years at the tournament. The pair defeated Jamie Murray and Eric Butorac in the final match, 6-2, 6-4.
Women
Clijsters picked up right where she left off in 2005 by claiming the first tournament of the 2006 US Open Series season – the Bank of the West Classic.
Clijsters, the top seed, breezed past the second-seeded Patty Schnyder in the tournament final to continue her dominance in the event. The Belgian is now unbeaten in the Bank of the West since 2002 and has captured four titles on the Stanford campus in the last six years.
The doubles title went to Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Shahar Peer, who defeated Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko, 6-1, 6-4.
Week 3
Men
Arnaud Clement came through with an impressive showing in winning the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington D.C. The Frenchman, who played in the first U.S. final of his career, didn’t drop a set on his way to championship and beat the likes of Hrbaty, Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin just to get to the final. In the title match, Clement held off rising star Murray, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
The Bryan brothers took home their second consecutive US Open Series tournament title of the season by successfully defending their Legg Mason doubles crown. In the final, the top-seeded Bryans defeated the second-seeded Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyet.
Women
Sharapova prevented Clijsters from winning her second straight US Open Series tournament by defeating the top seed, 7-5, 7-5, in the Acura Classic final. The triumph in San Diego marked Sharapova’s first-ever victory against Clijsters.
With the loss, Clijsters saw her streak of 24 straight match wins in North American summer hardcourt events come to an end.In the doubles final it was Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs cruising past Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-2, 6-2, to claim the top prize for the second time in three years.
Week 4
Men
Federer claimed his second Rogers Cup title in three seasons despite a tough challenge from the unseeded Richard Gasquet of France in the final. The Swiss star dropped the first set to the 20-year-old Gasquet before finding his game early in the second and going on to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.
The triumph in Toronto ran Federer’s North American match winning streak to 54 straight victories and gave him his 40th career title.
The Bryan brothers made it three straight US Open Series tournament wins by earning a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Hanley and Ullyet in the Rogers Cup doubles final.
Women
Sharapova’s attempt to win back-to-back US Open Series tournaments was thwarted in the JPMorgan Chase Open by compatriot Elena Dementieva, who posted a 7-5, 6-2 victory in their semifinal clash.
Dementieva maintained her winning ways in the final, defeating Jelena Jankovic in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, to capture the title in Los Angeles.
Jankovic was coming off a 6-4, 6-3 semifinal victory over American Serena Williams, who was making her first US Open Series appearance of the year.
In doubles, Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez seized the championship by defeating Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 6-4.
Week 5
Men
Roddick’s Series-clinching victory in Cincinnati marked his first win in the event since 2003, which was also the year of his lone US Open championship. The runner-up to Roddick in the ’03 US Open was Ferrero – the man who also lost the America in this year’s Cincinnati final.
Besides Federer being ousted early, rival Rafael Nadal saw his run in the tournament end early with a quarterfinal loss to Ferrero. It marked the first time in the past 16 tournaments that either Nadal or Federer didn’t win an event they both entered.
The Bryan brothers’ tournament winning streak came to an end with a loss in the doubles final to Max Mirnyi and Jonas Bjorkman. The Bryans had won the previous four tournaments they had entered, starting with their title in Wimbledon followed by three straight US Open Series tournament wins.
Women
While it was a rising star – Ivanovic -- taking the singles title in Montreal, a living legend added to her already loaded resume by wining the doubles championship.
Martina Navratilova captured her 176th career doubles title, pairing up with Nadia Petrova of Russia to defeat Cara Black and Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the Rogers Cup final, 6-1, 6-2.
Week 6
Men
The Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven saw the early exit of Blake, the defending champion and top seed. Blake bowed out after dropping his opening round match against Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain, 3-6, 5-7.
Blake’s ouster opened the door for second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who defeated 10th seed Agustin Calleri in the final, 6-4, 6-3, to capture the Pilot Penn.
In doubles, Israelis Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich captured their third crown of the year by defeating Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, 6-3, 6-3, in the championship match.
Women
Justine Henin-Hardenne captured the women’s Pilot Pen crown after Lindsay Davenport retired with an injury in the final. The second-seeded Henin-Hardenne was leading the seventh-seeded Davenport 6-0, 1-0 when Davenport pulled out of the match with an ailing right shoulder.
The injury put an end to an impressive run by Davenport, who was the defending champion in the event. The American had ousted top seed Amelie Mauresmo in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
Defending Pilot Pen doubles champions Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur saw their effort to repeat thwarted by China’s Yan Zi and Zheng Jie. The Austalian Open and Wimbledon champions cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 victory to take the title – their sixth of the year.
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