American resurgence at US Open

NEW YORK: Sloane Stephens may have hoisted the US Open trophy on Saturday with her defeat of Madison Keys, but American tennis was the big winner at the year’s final Grand Slam.

With American women sweeping the semifinals to guarantee a home-grown winner, it has been a giddy fortnight for the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

The results were not nearly as positive on the men’s side where 15th seed Sam Querrey, the last American, was beaten in the quarter-finals by Kevin Anderson.

But the good news far outweighed the bad from the USTA’s perspective.

“We knew the time would come and we just needed to be patient and the time did come,” USTA executive director Gordon Smith told Reuters.

“It’s been a great week for US tennis, we have known for a long time we have a great new generation of young women players, who are really following in the footsteps of Venus and Serena Williams.

“It’s beautiful to see.

“And we have a bunch of young men who are right behind them.”

In recent years, the final weekend at a US Open has included an unpleasant post mortem constructed around the question: “What’s wrong with American tennis?”