Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

U.S. Open Notebook

Serena not the only Saturday champion; famous spectators

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Saturday September 11, 1999 08:54 PM

This year's men's doubles champions Sebastien Lareau (left) and Alex O'Brien capture their first Grand Slam title. AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- While the U.S. Open men's semifinal match between Todd Martin and Cedric Pioline was being played Saturday, two titles in the year's final Grand Slam tournament were decided.

John Fitzgerald of Australia and South Africa's Danie Visser won the men's 35s doubles, defeating Americans Scott Davis and David Pate 6-4, 6-4.

In the super seniors doubles, Americans Marty Riessen and Sherwood Stewart stopped Australians John Newcombe and Tony Roche 6-3, 7-5.

Star watchers

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn were among te fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium to watch "Super Saturday" at the U.S. Open.

Other star spectators included actors Alec and Stephen Baldwin, and tennis greats Pancho Segura, Ilie Nastase and Jose Higueras.

Russion Fed Cup team

Elena Likhovtseva will lead the Russian team that will play the United States in the Fed Cup final Sept. 18-19 at Stanford, California.

Also selected to the squad were Tatiana Panova, Elena Dementieva and Elena Makarova.

The U.S. team consists of Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Monica Seles and Serena Williams.

If at first

When American Alex O'Brien and Canadian Sebastien Lareau defeated Indians Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the men's doubles final, it was the first Grand Slam tournament title for O'Brien.

O'Brien previously lost in the 1995 U.S. Open final when he teamed with Sandon Stolle and at the 1997 and 1998 Australian Opens with Lareau.

He is the first American to win the U.S. Open men's doubles since Ken Flach and Rick Leach won in 1993.

Not a favorite

Todd Martin agrees -- somewhat -- with Yevgeny Kafelnikov's prediction.

Earlier in the tournament, the Russian said only three players could win the U.S. Open men's singles title: Andre Agassi, Richard Krajicek and himself.

"I [said] the other day that I agreed with him," Martin said. "If I were to have picked three favorites, I would have picked those three. In fact, Richard was one of my only picks at the beginning of the tournament."

Krajicek lost to Kafelnikov in the quarterfinals, while Martin defeated Cedric Pioline to advance into Sunday's final, where he will face Agassi, a semifinal winner over Kafelnikov.

 

Related information
Stories
Serena Williams captures U.S. Open women's singles crown Agassi, Martin to face off in U.S. Open final Head-to-head: Agassi vs. Martin SI's Jon Wertheim: Williamses are winning people over
Multimedia
Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.