Melo-kubot clinch Wimbledon men’s doubles in 5 sets
LONDON: The Brazilian-polish men’s doubles pair of Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot took a marathon five sets to overcome Austrian-croatian pair of Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the final of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
It took four hours and 39 minutes of intense servedominated play on Sunday for fourth seeds Kubot and Melo to overcome the valiant No.16 seeded rivals 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(2), 3-6, 13-11.
The match saw seven points won from the eight played after the match resumed following a 10-minute suspension to allow the Centre Court roof to close after drizzle, as Melo and Kubot bagged their first Grand Slam title as a pair.
“I said to Lukasz before the match, ‘Man, I did everything on my life to be here in this court. I want to enjoy as much as I can. I reached the final once before (with Ivan Dodig, losing to the Bryan brothers in 2013), but now I want to win, and I can do it’,” Melo told Wimbledon website.
“After they closed the roof it was perfect for us, especially to break him love-40. The energy was so high, the atmosphere on court unbelievable. No words to describe,” he added.
With this win, Melo will return to the No.1 ranking in men’s doubles on Monday.
This was not a match that swung like a pendulum or ebbed and flowed. There was barely a cigarette paper between the two pairs all afternoon, then early evening, then evening proper and finally so late that, for the first time this year, the roof on Centre Court had to be closed and the floodlights turned on. Kubot, Melo, Marach and Pavic – names that even wizened tennis fans would struggle to place – achieved what Andy Murray and Roger Federer could not at Wimbledon 2017.
The lights coming on proved to be the decisive factor. That call was made at 11-11 in the fifth, just before 9pm, but Kubot and Melo responded better to the 10-minute break and the new conditions and broke immediately. A huge crowd stayed on Centre Court and Kubot treated them to an exuberant can-can. Pavic, distraught, hid under a towel for minutes until Marach pulled him to his feet and the pair received perhaps the loudest ovation of the day (including the women’s singles final). LONDON: Venus Williams vowed to make amends for her Wimbledon final heartache by ending a bittersweet year on a high at the US Open.
Williams failed in her bid to become the oldest Grand Slam champion in the Open era as the American star was crushed 7-5, 6-0 by Garbine Muguruza in Saturday’s title match.
Instead of celebrating her sixth Wimbledon title, and first major trophy since 2008, the 37-year-old trudged off Centre Court looking her age for virtually the first time in her unexpected 2017 renaissance.
Venus, beaten by sister Serena in the Australian Open final in January, has reached the two Grand Slams finals in the same year for the first time since 2003.
Given her battle with the autoimmune disease that leaves her fatigued and once threatened to end her career, Venus’s return to prominence is a tribute to her ferocious will to win.
With Serena set to miss the rest of the year as she prepares to have her first child, Venus will still be among the favourites to win her eighth Grand Slam title when the US Open gets underway in late August.
“I’m in good form. I’ve been in a position a lot of times this year to contend for big titles,” Venus said.
“That’s the kind of position I want to keep putting myself in. It’s just about getting over the line. I believe I can do that.
“This is where you want to be. I like to win. I don’t want to just get to a final. It’s just about playing a little better.
“I’ve had a great two weeks. I’m looking forward to the rest of the summer.”
Batting away questions that invited her to blame the 24minute second set meltdown on tiredness caused by her illness, Venus admitted she could have no complaints about the result.
Her only regret was a failure to take the break points that came her way in a fiercely fought first set. “Definitely would have loved to have converted some of those points. But she competed really well. So credit to her.
She played amazing,” Venus said.
“There’s always something to learn from matches that you win and the ones that you don’t win. So there’s definitely something for me to learn from this,” she said. NEW DELHI: He has been away from the hullabaloo of Indian cricket for the last six months but former BCCI president Anurag Thakur says if required, he “won’t shy away from accepting responsibility”.
The Supreme Court recently dropped perjury charges against Thakur after he tendered an unconditional apology. He was removed from the BCCI by the Supreme Court in January for failing to convince Board members to implement the Lodha Reforms.
Since then, the Sc-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) has spent an unsuccessful six months failing to make any headway in the matter.
Recently, former India captain Sourav Ganguly, while accepting birthday wish from Thakur, urged him to make a comeback into cricket administration.
“It was kind of Sourav to have said something like that.
I feel humbled when a former India captain says something like that. I have not decided anything but if Indian cricket requires me, I will be always available. I have never shied away from responsibility,” Thakur said on Sunday.
Asked if he is a relieved man, Thakur said: “I had complete faith in judiciary”.
The Hamirpur MP has been very busy with his political work as well as looking after other sporting activities.
“During all these months, I was busy doing what I love most -- promoting sports. I organised the Himachal Pradesh State Olympics, which was a huge success. I am also involved with Hockey Himachal as promoting Olympic sports in the state has been one of my prime endeavours,” said Thakur.