Saturday, July 5, 2014

They did it! Errani and Vinci earn Career Slam at Wimbledon

It took Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci only 49 minutes to win their first Wimbledon title today. In defeating Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 6-3, they also achieved a Career Slam: They have won all four majors, and, in fact, claim two victories at the Australian Open.

The fighting Italians learned a lesson at last year's Wimbledon tournament, when they lost in the third round to Julia Goerges and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. They learned that their game was not aggressive enough for them to triumph on a grass court, so they went about making some changes. Those changes paid off today as Errani and Vinci, playing their 258th match as a team, seemed to be on every inch of the court, fighting off Babos and the doubles talent that is Mladenovic. It didn't help that Babos, playing in her first major final, appeared to be a bit overwhelmed by the occasion.

The mixed doubles final is set. 15th seeds Sam Stosur and Nenad Zimonjic will play 14th seeds Chan Hao-Ching and Max Mirnyi. Stosur and Zimonjic defeated 16th seeds Vera Dushevina and Aisam Qureshi in the semifinals, and Chan and Mirnyi upset 5th seeds Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor. Mladenovic and Nestor, the defending champions, were defeated 7-6, 7-5.

The junior final has also been decided. 8th seed Kristina Schmiedlova will compete against Jelena Ostapenko. In junior doubles, the team of Bouzkova and Galfi will play against the team of Grende and Ye.

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