Siegemund and Zvonareva win U.S. Open women's doubles title

CHAMPIONS.

🇩🇪 @laurasiegemund & 🇷🇺 @verazvonareva beat No. 3 seeds Melichar & Xu, 6-4, 6-4! #USOpen pic.twitter.com/gllwQohZ9g

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 11, 2020

Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva had never played doubles together before. They got together at the last minute and signed up to play, and today, they won the U.S. Open. 

Both women have been through a lot. Siegemund has had multiple injuries, some of them serious, that kept her off of the tour for a long time. Her last injury was sustained in 2017, when she hurt her knee and was out for eleven months. For her part, Zvonareva--who has also sustained some significant injuries-- took two years off in 2015 and 2016. In 2016, she announced her marriage, and later that year, she gave birth to a daughter. 

Today, Siegemund and Zvonareva defeated 3rd seeds Nicole Melichar and Xu Yifan in a very entertaining final. It was hard to believe that the pair had never played together before, so finely tuned was their rhythm

Here is an interesting fact about the new champions: They both took advantage of their tour layoffs by pursuing their education. In 2012, when Siegemund was out with a torn ligament, she earned a degree in psychology, and she also earned a trainer's certificate. At the time, she didn't anticipate being able to return to the tour full-time. Zvonareva has a degree in physical education, and she studied for a second degree in international economic relations at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, the oldest diplomatic academy in the world.

This is Siegemund's first major women's doubles championship. She and Mate Pavic won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title in 2016. Today's victory marks Zvonareva's third major women's doubles championship. She won the U.S. Open, with Nathalie Dechy in 2006, and the Australian Open--in 2012--with Svetlana Kuznetsova. Zvonareva also holds two major mixed doubles titles.

In other big news today, defending champion and top seed Diede De Groot advanced to the women's wheelchair singles final with a three-set win over Marjolein Buis. Her opponent in the final will a familiar face--last year's runner-up, 2nd seed Yui Kamigi. Kamigi defeated Angelica Bernal in the semifinals.

In women's wheelchair doubles, De Groot and Kamiji will see each other again in the final. De Groot is the defending champion in this event, also, though this year, her partner is Buis (she won last year with Aniek Van Koot). De Groot and Buis, the top seeds, will face the second seeds, Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley.