(September 11, 2016) FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – Number 12 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova were a game away from losing the US Open women’s doubles final to top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic of France down 6-2, 5-4.
The American and Czech pair broke serve at love and won a second set tiebreak to propel them to a 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 win for the title, their first US Open crown and third career major.
“It was a little bit of a slow start, but I’ve gotta give credit to our opponents,” said the American. “They came out playing big, serving big, making all their rolls, ripping returns.
“You know, I think one of the things that we do really well is we don’t get too down no matter what the score is. We’re really positive.
“It was funny. I think Lucie had more energy than me. She was carrying me on her back and getting me pumped up.”
They are just a Wimbledon title away from completing a women’s doubles career Grand Slam. They won the Australian Open and French Open titles in 2015.
“We actually just got asked that on the court now,” Mattek-Sands said at the pair’s news conference. “They were talking about Wimbledon. I was like, We have so many tournaments before Wimbledon. I don’t even know if we can start to think about it.
“I mean, really, we’re enjoying the moment. I mean, this is a huge win. I mean, we both looked at each other and we said, We have a US Open trophy right now. I think especially being 9/11, it’s really a big thing to enjoy the people you’re with, enjoy the moment. I get a little emotional.”
The French pair let errors creep into their game in the second set making 25 unforced errors to nine for the American-Czech duo.
Mattek-Sands and Safarova broke Garcia’s serve to open the third set and held on for the win.
The pair talked about hiw they first got together as partners.
“Yeah, it was a blind date, actually,” said Mattek-Sands. “We both didn’t have partners for Australia.”
“You were coming back after injury,” said the Czech.
“I hadn’t actually played a lot of doubles,” Mattek-Sands said. “I actually didn’t have a ranking. Lucie took a chance on me.”