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U.S. Open Notebook

Serena racks up on Flushing-ware

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Posted: Monday September 13, 1999 12:11 AM

Nothing up her sleeve: Serena Williams finished the U.S. Open with 62 aces, the most by a women's singles player. AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- By being part of the winning women's doubles team on Sunday, Serena Williams became only the fourth woman in the Open era to win the singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles during their careers at the U.S. Open.

The others were Margaret Smith Court, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova.

Williams teamed with her sister Venus to capture the doubles Sunday, defeating Chanda Rubin and Sandrine Testud 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, She won the singles crown Saturday with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Martina Hingis.

Last year, Williams and Max Mirnyi won the mixed doubles at the USTA National Tennis Center.

Flying Finn

Jarkko Nieminen upset top-seeded Kristian Pless of Denmark 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 6-4 Sunday to win the U.S. Open Boys' singles title and become the first player from Finland to win a junior Grand Slam title since Birgitta Lindstrom captured the girls' crown at Wimbledon in 1966.

It was the best career performance by the left-handed Nieminen, a native of Masku, Finland. He reached the round of 16 at both the Australian and French Opens before losing in the first round at Wimbledon.

Nieminen is the 1998 Finnish men's doubles indoor champion and was runner-up in the singles.

Old foes

Lina Krasnoroutskaia won the U.S. Open Girls' singles crown Sunday by defeating fellow Russian Nadejda Petrova 6-3, 6-2.

It was the second straight Grand Slam tournament final for Krasnoroutskaia, who lost to Iroda Tulyaganova in the Wimbledon title match.

Petrova, who won the French Open junior title last year, was playing in her first junior tournament since the Australian Open in January, where she lost in the semifinals.

Krasnoroutskaia, who was seeded sixth, is from Obininski, Russia, while the second-seeded Petrova, who was born in Moscow, now lives in Krackow, Poland.

Super ratings

The victory by Serena Williams in Saturday's women's final was a winner on CBS Television.

The network said the women's title match earned an overnight television household rating of 6.9 and share of 16, an increase of 92 percent over last year. It was the highest-rated women's final since 1993.

The men's semifinal matches earned an overnight rating of 4.1 and share of 11, up 32 percent over last year's two-match average of 3.1 and 8.

The rating is the percentage of TV households in the United States tuned to a program, and each point represents 994,000 homes. The share is the percentage tuned to a program among televisions in use at the time.

Ace attack

Champion Serena Williams finished the U.S. Open with 62 aces, nearly triple the number the next highest player served in the tournament. Lindsay Davenport was second with 22.

The 62 aces is the most by a single player since complete tournament statistics have been kept on all 127 women's singles matches, beginning in 1995.

Chase Manhattan Bank, sponsor of the U.S. Open women's singles, donates $50 for every ace served in singles play to fund inner city tennis camps for girls. Williams was responsible for a record $3,100 of the final total of $25,750.

Irina Spirlea, who was the Chase Ace champion in each of the last two years, finished third this year with 19.

 

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