Marin Cilic stole the headlines in New York, playing the best tennis of his career so far to win his first Grand Slam title and become the first Croatian player to win a major since his coach Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon in 2001.
The pair saw months of hard work pay off as Cilic employed a greater array of shots and played with authority and calm at the business end of the tournament to string together straight sets wins over Tomas Berdych, Roger Federer and, in the final, Kei Nishikori.
Both players were competing in their first major final, and had stunned the tennis world with breakthrough victories in the semi-finals, with Japan’s Nishikori adding the scalp of world #1 Novak Djokovic to impressive wins over Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinka on his way to becoming the first Asian man ever to contest a Slam final. But once Cilic seized control midway through the first set of the Monday evening match Nishikori was unable to wrest the initiative away from his towering opponent and could garner only three games in each set.
Ranked #16 prior to the tournament, Cilic becomes the lowest-ranked men’s champion in New York since Pete Sampras won in 2002. Both players re-enter the Top 10 as a result of their results and with comparatively few points to defend for the rest of the season will have plenty of opportunities to rise even further before the end of the season.
Serena Williams salvaged what she had earlier declared to be a ‘disastrous’ year by extending her winning run in New York to 21 matches to beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-3 and claim her home Slam for a sixth time in her career. Williams was in remarkable form in the United States, easily winning the US Open series with victories in Stanford and Cincinnati and losing only to sister Venus in Montreal. For her part, in reaching the New York final for a second time in her career, Wozniacki displayed some of her best tennis since reaching the world #1 spot in 2010. The Dane would surely have achieved even more during the hard court season had she not been stopped by Williams in three of her four tournaments.
The win was an historic one for Serena personally, as well as for the sport. The American recovered her composure after a year of uncharacteristically early Slam defeats in which she had failed to advance past the quarter finals, never conceding more than three games in a set in New York. The world #1 joined Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert on 18 Grand Slam titles (the pair were on hand to present her with a special 18-karat gold bracelet to mark the occasion) and knows that she has only three more players (Helen Wills Moody with 19 titles, Steffi Graf with 22 and Margaret Court with 24) ahead of her in her quest to become the sport’s undisputed greatest ever player. Thanks to her US Open series win, she also claimed the greatest ever pay cheque of $4 million.
Doubles
Should anyone doubt that Bob & Mike Bryan have the greatest doubles partnership of all time, the Americans etched themselves further into the record books by claiming their 100th doubles title by beating Marcel Granollers & Marc Lopez of Spain.
The pair fell just short of completing the calendar year Slam in New York in 2013, and despite continuing their dominance they arrived in the Big Apple this year without a Grand Slam title to their name. But the 36-year olds were never threatened during the final, as they kept alive a streak of having won at least one major title for the last 10 years, claiming their 16th Grand Slam overall.
Martina Hingis was the talk of the women’s doubles event, rolling back the years to reach a major final for the first time since 2002 alongside partner Flavia Pennetta. The unseeded Swiss/Italian partnership started well, dominating the first set against Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina, but the Russian pair fought back to level the match and managed to maintain their composure in a nervy third set to claim their second Slam title together. A revitalised Hingis returns to top 20 for the first time in a decade as a result of the runner-up spot, and alongside Pennetta is a realistic contender for a spot at the season-ending WTA Championships.
The mixed doubles went to India’s Sania Mirza and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares, who edged Abigail Spears (USA) and Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) in a 20-point champion’s tie-break to secure their first mixed doubles Slam title as a pair, a third for Mirza and second for Soares.
Juniors
Omar Jasika of Australia announced his arrival in style in the boys’ events. Having never previously progressed past the third round of a Junior Slam, the unseeded 17-year old came back from the brink of defeat to claim the singles title over reigning European Junior Champion Quentin Halys (FRA). He had earlier teamed up with Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) to win the doubles over Rafael Matos & Joao Menezes, who fell just short of becoming the second Brazilian pair to win a boys’ Slam in 2014.
Unseeded Marie Bouzkova became the first ever Czech winner of the girls’ title after outlasting Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine to win a tense second set tie break. Jil Teichmann added to Hingis’ doubles silverware for Switzerland by teaming with Ipek Soylu of Turkey to beat Vera Lapko (BLR) and Tereza Mihalikova (SVK) 10-7 in a champion’s tie-break to win the doubles title.
The 2014 Grand Slam season therefore draws to a close with 8 different singles champions, the first time since 1998 that no player has managed to win more than one. There are sure signs that the dominance of the ATP’s ‘big four’ of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray has reached a natural end, and Cilic said that he hoped his victory would inspire other players to reach the next level. Meanwhile Serena Williams has shown in recent months that she is not immune to pressure, admitting vulnerability while players such as Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova rack up titles around her. With key contenders such as Nadal, Murray, Na Li and Azarenka having their current seasons disrupted by injury and recovery, 2015 looks set to be a fascinating tennis year.
Roll of Honour
Men’s Singles
(14) Marin Cilic (CRO) d. (10) Kei Nishikori (JPN) 63 63 63
Men’s Doubles
(1) Bryan/Bryan (USA) d. (11) Granollers/Lopez (ESP) 63 64
Women’s Singles
(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. (10) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 63 63
Women’s Doubles
(4) Makarova/Vesnina (RUS) d. Hingis (SUI)/Pennetta (ITA) 26 63 62
Mixed Doubles
(1) Mirza (IND)/Soares (BRA) d. Spears (USA)/Gonzalez (MEX) 61 26 [11-9]
Boys’ Singles
Omar Jasika (AUS) d. (5) Quentin Halys (FRA) 26 75 61
Boys' Doubles
(6) Jasika (AUS)/Nakagawa (JPN) d. Matos/Manezes (BRA) 63 76(6)
Girls’ Singles
Marie Bouzkova (CZE) d. (9) Anhelina Kalinina (UKR) 64 76(5)
Girls’ Doubles
(6) Soylu (TUR)/Teichmann (SUI) d. Lapko (BLR)/Mihailikova (SVK) 57 62 [10-7]
Men’s Wheelchair Singles
(1) Shingo Kuneida (JPN) d. Gustavo Fernandez (ARG) 76(0) 64
Women’s Wheelchair Singles
(1) Yui Kamiji (JPN) d. Aniek van Koot (NED) 63 63
Men’s Wheelchair Doubles
(1) Houdet (FRA)/Kuneida (JPN) d. (2) Scheffers/Vink (NED) 57 60 63
Women’s Wheelchair Doubles
(1) Kamiji (JPN)/Whiley (GBR) d. (2) Griffioen/Van Koot (NED) 26 62 75
Wheelchair Quad Singles
Andrew Lapthorne (GBR) d. David Wagner (USA) 75 62