| Andre and Serena Prevail | |
Dateline: 09/13/99
Serena Williams and Andre Agassi emerged from the weekend as the 1999 US Open singles champions, while Serena and sister Venus took the women's doubles, Alex O'Brien and Sebastien Lareau won the men's doubles, and Ai Sugiyama and Mahesh Bhupathi won the mixed doubles.
Each draw enjoyed plenty of exciting play, but the women's singles was arguably the best. In the final, which Serena took 6-3, 7-6(4) over Martina Hingis, Serena gave an awesome display of power and speed against a Hingis who fought hard despite seeming less than fully recovered from her semifinal battle with Venus Williams. That was at least as good a match as the final, with Hingis needing three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, to defeat Venus. The other semi was a dramatic slugfest, with Serena overcoming defending champion Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Preceding these excellent semis were two close, top-quality quarterfinals, Serena vs. Monica Seles and especially Davenport vs. Mary Pierce.
While Serena Williams was a somewhat surprising champion, Andre Agassi was the clear favorite from the second day of the tournament, when both the defending champion, Patrick Rafter, and top seed, Pete Sampras, withdrew due to injuries. Unlike Andre, who had a fairly easy time in his half of the draw, Todd Martin barely survived both the first and the fourth rounds, where he came through two incredibly tough five-set battles. The heroic level of effort Martin showed to make it to the final did not diminish in the final itself. The underdog Martin took Agassi to five sets, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2, before Andre's unequaled returning ability, combined with surprisingly strong serving, proved too much. Andre Agassi now has the world number one ranking.
In yet another match that went the distance, Serena and Venus Williams defeated Chanda Rubin and Sandrine Testud 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to win the women's doubles. The mixed doubles went only two sets, but they were close ones, as Ai Sugiyama and Mahesh Bhupathi defeated Kimberly Po and Donald Johnson 6-4, 6-4. Even closer was the men's doubles, in which Sebastien Lareau and Alex O'Brien defeated Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes 7-6 (7), 6-4. Bhupathi and Paes had a tremendous year, reaching all four Grand Slam doubles finals.
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